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Angelique Miller, Senior Director, Creative Partnerships, Expedia Group Media Solutions
August 5, 2019
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For the third year in a row, we hosted our Insights Summit at Destinations International’s Annual Convention where we connected with destination marketers, heard about new trends in the destination marketing world, and shared our latest insights and best practices. We also presented our latest research on Generation Alpha and their impact on family travel trends. Despite their young age, (Generation Alpha is defined as those born after 2010), they are already playing an active role in family travel inspiration and planning; as it turns out, they’re influencing trip decisions for the entire family.

For those who missed Destinations International, we collected some of our highlights and top takeaways from this year’s event.

Media Solutions Insights Summit

In addition to presenting our Gen Alpha research, we also heard from John Banks from Expedia Local Expert, who shared insights on the importance travelers put on booking activities and experiences when they travel. His insights dovetailed with what we’ve recently learned about Gen Alpha and family travel: activities continue to increase in significance.

Our very own Christine Walker Scarce walked the group through our latest products and features, including incrementality reporting and how it benefits destination marketers. For more information, read the whitepaper Phocuswire produced with us on how our Incrementality Reporting works.

Finally, we also heard from some of our marketing partners, including VisitDallas and the Greater Palm Springs CVB,​ on how they addressed challenges in their markets. They spoke about how they have successfully marketed their destinations to target audiences and about how they have been able to demonstrate tangible ROI to their stakeholders​

Destinations International 2019 Group photo

Thank you to all those who attended our Insights Summit.

The Future for Destination Marketing Organizations

Destination organizations are always navigating shifting political and economic realities. Paul Ouimet, Founder and CEO of NEXTFactor, shared key findings from their 2019 Futures Study, which surveyed more than 500 destination leaders in over 50 countries. Study results identified three major transformational opportunities for DMOs: 1) Destination Stewardship - balancing economic development, sustainable tourism, and quality of life; 2) Community Alignment - building public support around a shared vision for the destination; and 3) Digital Conversion - connecting with visitors on mobile devices to drive real-time sales in-destination.

Ouimet and NEXTFactor predict that destinations that are prepared to act on these three opportunities will be able to rise above the competition and reap revenue rewards.

Engaging the Chinese Traveler

The travel industry has long had its eyes on China, as the largest outbound travel market in the world, and the clear message at Destinations International’s Annual Convention was that we should not lose focus anytime soon. China is the world’s largest outbound travel market and their growth is not showing any signs of slowing. Research from Brand USA shows us that 40 percent of the 140 million annual outbound Chinese travelers include day trips to Hong Kong and Macau, and of the remaining, 26 million are short and mid-haul trips and 14 million are long-haul trips.

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Angelique Miller
Senior Director, Creative Partnerships, Expedia Group Media Solutions
Angelique Miller is responsible for leading advertising partnerships at Expedia Group globally, overseeing Media Solutions’ full service, in-house creative agency which includes creative design + development, content creation, strategy, social media and project management teams. Her team of passionate storytellers collaborates with brands to create unique and compelling media experiences.
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