So You Landed Your First Tourism Job? Here's Your Survival Guide.
What we wish someone had told us on Day One.
Kettle Editorial Team
You've officially joined the world of tourism.
Maybe you're fresh out of college. Maybe you made a leap from another industry. Maybe you just realized what a DMO is last week. (We've all been there.)
Welcome. This industry is weird, wonderful, and unlike anything else. It's one part community building, one part logistics, and one part storytelling. You'll wear a dozen hats, meet incredible people, and at some point, you'll attend a meeting where the words "should we redo our logo?" are said unironically.
Here's your real-deal survival guide — the things no onboarding manual will tell you, but every tourism veteran knows.
1. Your job is bigger than promotion. It's about place.
Yes, you'll write posts, schedule newsletters, and maybe run ads. But your real work is bigger: you're helping shape how people experience a place. That's sacred. You're a steward, not just a marketer.
The most successful people in tourism aren't flashy. They're connectors. They help locals and visitors alike fall a little more in love with where they are.
2. Relationships > Reach
Want to make real impact? Learn everyone's name.
The café owner downtown. The ranger at the trailhead. The City Council rep who always votes no. These people are your ecosystem. They'll help you create magic — if they trust you.
Don't try to "build buzz." Build trust.
3. Everyone will ask for a brochure. Smile. Then ask what they really need.
Printed guides. New logos. T-shirts. Oh, the t-shirts.
You'll get a lot of requests for "marketing materials." Sometimes they're right. Often, they're just proxies for deeper needs — clarity, alignment, direction.
Your job isn't to say yes. It's to ask better questions.
4. Your logo doesn't matter (that much). Your storytelling does.
Repeat after us: Substance > form.
Travelers aren't choosing your town because of the color of your wordmark. They're choosing it because of what they see on Instagram. Because of the story someone told. Because of the feeling it gave them.
Focus on building the kind of place — and content — people want to talk about.
5. Learn the calendar. It runs everything.
Tourism is deeply seasonal. What you do in October affects next July. Your job will move in rhythms — festivals, fiscal years, grant deadlines, city meetings.
Start writing things down. Ask what happens when. Learn what "off-season" really means in your destination. This will save your sanity.
6. Tourism is the original cross-functional job.
Marketing? Yep. Government relations? Yep. Economic development? Sure. Social media, public safety, event management, grant writing, influencer wrangling? Absolutely.
You won't know everything. That's okay. Learn fast, stay curious, and ask the veterans what acronyms like STR, DMO, OTA, FAM, and RevPAR actually mean.
7. Want to stand out? Be the one who listens.
Everyone talks. Few actually listen — to travelers, to locals, to partners, to the data.
The best tourism professionals are quiet pattern-finders. They surface insights others miss. They spot opportunities hiding in plain sight. Be one of those.
8. Read Kettle.
(We had to.)
We're building the guidebook we wish we had when we started. Come along — and bring your friends. You're going to do great things.