Destination marketing is in the middle of a transformation most of the industry is
pretending isn't happening. AI is changing how travelers decide. Funding models are
fraying. Residents are asking harder questions. The old playbook — paid funnels, vanity
metrics, clicks, "awareness" campaigns — was designed for a world that's already gone.
The industry's smartest operators are privately wrestling with all of it. They're just not
saying it out loud. Destination Discourse exists to stage those conversations on the
record — between a DMO president, an agency founder, and a rotating cast of guests who
actually run things — and to disagree in public, every week, on purpose.
Every episode opens with a question the industry has been quietly avoiding.
Are RFPs ruining destination marketing? Is the click dead? Is this the beginning of the end for DMOs?
Not rhetorical. We take sides.
One rigorous disagreement
Adam thinks one thing, Stuart thinks another, and the guest usually thinks a third.
Nobody backs down. We've even titled episodes "Is Stuart Right About the Future of DMOs?" and "Is Adam Wrong About Paid Media?" We mean it.
One thing you can defend on Monday
Every episode ends with a position that's actually changed something for us — or should
change something for you. If you walk away with a new idea you can take to your board,
your team, or your next RFP response, we did our job.
This week's question
Latest episode.
EP 077·April 16, 2026·54 min·Stuart and Adam only
Is Your Paid Media Strategy Built for a World That No Longer Exists?
Stuart argues AI has crossed from chatbot to co-worker. Adam argues most DMOs are still budgeting for a media world that already moved on.
Adam runs an agency that serves destinations. He sees the industry from the outside,
across dozens of DMOs, and he's built a body of work around challenging how
destinations get marketed at all.
President, Visit Myrtle Beach
Stuart Butler
2025 Content Marketer of the Year — Content Marketing Institute
Stuart runs the whole operator side — marketing, product, P&L, stakeholders, the
board. He sees the industry from inside a DMO that's winning, and he's willing to say
out loud what most DMO leaders only whisper.
The show works because they don't work for each other. Nobody's getting paid to agree.
Three ways to be a Destie
Become a Destie.
Every episode, we stage a conversation your industry is quietly having — and wasn't brave enough to have out loud.
Desties are the people who've decided destination marketing shouldn't sleepwalk into irrelevance. Three ways to be one. Pick whichever fits your life — or go all three.
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