Julie Coker, President & CEO of San Diego Tourism Authority, outlines how they're helping event organizers navigate the new normal post-COVID and what you can do to connect your visitors to the lifeblood of your city.

We know how busy the life of a place brand and marketing leader is. Which is why we reached out to our partners for the 2022 Americas conference to get their top line coverage of the discussion – ensuring you’re up to date on all the latest topics in an easily digestible format.

So with no further ado, here we go…

Airports have always been key selling points in tourist and economic attractiveness strategies. Which country, city or region has never boasted itself of having air access? Yet, the global crises and their persistent effects on air travelling have called into question the role of these major infrastructures. As we rebuild, can airports become essential assets in the attractiveness and branding of destinations?

We’re delighted to have Liina Maria Lepik, Director of the Estonian Tourist Board, as one of our judges for the City Nation Place Awards. Ahead of the judging, we caught up with her to understand how Estonia’s place brand connects different stakeholders under a single brand vision, and how they’re talking about their sustainable values.

From a viral karaoke song to a tongue-in-cheek take on the Metaverse, Iceland’s campaigns regularly catch the attention of the world. But what happens behind the scenes to create this success? Sveinn Birkir Björnsson, Director of Global Marketing Communications at Business Iceland, shares his expertise – and gives an insight into what he’d be looking for as a member of our 2022 City Nation Place Awards jury.

The findings of the Travel & Tourism Development Index (TTDI) which measures 117 economies on a range of tourism and travel related indicators and policies, has been published by the World Economic Forum today. What does it mean for how the tourism and travel sector can recover?

People didn't have a perception of Norwich at all, and that needed to change in order for the city to compete with other UK honeypot destinations. Enter Norwich's place brand strategy to be the City of Stories.

It’s always a challenge to summarise a day and a half’s worth of content into a single article (the wine at the after party almost certainly didn’t help!), but here are our key takeaways from the conference.

Many DMOs are searching for a new model as they emerge from the COVID rubble and start to think of building back for the longer term. Some leaders in our sector have brought out strategies announcing a “stewardship” approach but are now realising more fundamental change is needed to enable their destinations to thrive in the 21^st Century.

Emojis have revolutionized communications in a similar way that the text message did. Not forgetting that the text message was a Finnish invention – so why wouldn’t Finland be the first country to launch its own official emojis as well?

How can we build attractive communities where people want to live, work, visit and invest? And what does it take to engage your community in creating a vibrant place?

After everything that’s happened over the last few years, we began to ask ourselves – what is actually driving people to choose a city or region to visit or live in? Have the motivators for travel and relocation changed at all? Ipsos have been researching which factors matter most to Americans and Canadians in 2022 when selecting one location from another.

Pittsburgh's Oakland district is the focal point of innovation, and the city is collaborating with its key stakeholders to develop the district further. Mark Thomas, President of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, walks us through Oakland to show how they're strengthening the area

Before he joins us in Pittsburgh for City Nation Place Americas on May 11-12^th, Adam Burke, CEO of Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, shares how they’re collaborating with stakeholders across the city to deliver a greater quality of life for their residents.

Clear communication is essential to any successful partnership – even more so when you’re working with external parties. Four of our expert partners shared their thoughts on how you could write a good brief to explain the challenge or project you want to tackle, putting you on the best footing for a partnership with an agency or consultancy.