This week I’m looking at Five Travel Trends for 2025, and how elements of those trends have percolated up from larger society shifts today. That spill-over has implications across many product and service categories for marketers. But first up, the five travel trends... 5 Travel Trends for 2025 1. SKI Trips. Where SKI stands for “Spend Kids Inheritance” And you thought … [Read more...]
10 travel trends for 2024
This week’s content looks at the top 10 travel trends for 2024, and the marketing opportunities that they present. As a marketing strategist by trade, and a travel writer by passion, I've spent considerable time since 2019 at the intersection of these two interests. Sometimes as a speaker and consultant to the travel industry, and other times as a travel writer and content … [Read more...]
Mary Charleson serves as ESTO Awards travel marketing lead judge for a second year
Mary Charleson was thrilled to serve as a lead judge for one of the most important destination marketing organizations in the United States - the U.S. Travel Association, and their annual ESTO Awards. The 2023 awards includ the Destinations Council DESTINY AWARDS, and the National Council of State Tourism Directors MERCURY AWARDS. This is the second consecutive year that Mary … [Read more...]
Marketing as Community Development
A number of years ago I had the pleasure of working with a visionary leader at City University Canada - a Canadian university belonging to a US based private, not for profit, parent brand. CityU Canada has campuses in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary and Edmonton and specializes in delivering graduate degree programs for working adults in the areas of Master of Education and Master … [Read more...]
10 Social Media Mistakes Travel Agents Make (and how to avoid them)
Through consulting work and speaking to individual travel agents, their host agencies, and travel associations, I have seen my share of social media mistakes travel agents make. While thankfully most agents are not guilty of the entire list, there are many businesses that could benefit from avoiding the recurring patterns I have seen emerge. Here are the top 10 social media … [Read more...]