What a Tourism Leader Should Actually Be Doing
Hint: It's not approving the sixth round of website copy.
Kettle Editorial Team
Tourism has a leadership problem.
Not a talent problem. Not a passion problem. A focus problem.
Too many destination leaders are consumed by low-leverage decisions: debating the placement of a logo, micromanaging social captions, reviewing endless RFPs. These tasks feel productive, but they're sand traps. Easy to fall into. Hard to escape. And worst of all, they come at the expense of the work that actually moves the needle.
Here's what high-impact tourism leadership really looks like in 2025.
1. Create Strategic Clarity
Your job isn't to control everything. It's to define the few things that matter most. What type of visitor are you trying to attract? What do they care about? What unique value does your destination offer that no one else can? What behaviors do you want to change in your community or your visitors?
Without clarity, your team will spin. Your partners will guess. And your destination will default to status quo.
Clarity cuts through chaos. And it's your job to bring it.
2. Align the Ecosystem
Destinations aren't run by one person or even one organization. They're living ecosystems—hoteliers, guides, artists, restaurateurs, conservationists, marketers, city councils.
Your superpower is convening. Use it.
A tourism leader's job is to build trust, listen well, find common ground, and unite fragmented efforts. When the chamber and the creatives and the city and the DMOs are all rowing in the same direction, remarkable things happen.
(And no, that alignment doesn't start with a rebrand.)
3. Champion Product and Experience
Great marketing can't fix a mediocre product.
The best leaders obsess over the visitor experience. They think like product managers. What's missing? What's underutilized? Where are the friction points? They talk to visitors. They experience the destination themselves. They ask real questions and gather insights.
And then, they work with local partners to improve the offering—not just the perception.
4. Tell the Bigger Story
No one can tell your destination's story better than you—but that doesn't mean you should be the only one telling it.
Today's most influential tourism leaders act more like editors than broadcasters. They amplify voices. They spotlight stories. They invest in creators and storytellers who are already inspiring others to visit.
Tourism marketing isn't just ads. It's narrative power. And wielded well, it can shape how people feel, remember, and share.
5. Protect Your Time
This might be the most radical idea of all: stop doing things that don't matter.
The tourism industry has normalized a level of busywork that's simply unsustainable. You don't need to respond to every email. You don't need to attend every event. You don't need to touch every piece of content.
If you're doing your job right, people will have the clarity, trust, and autonomy to do theirs.
The Bottom Line:
Your destination doesn't need you to be everywhere.
It needs you to focus.
On clarity.
On alignment.
On experience.
On story.
The rest? Let it go.