Are You Optimizing Your Destination Into a Death Spiral? (Dan Janes)

Stuart and Adam open with Dubai's viral resident-referral campaign - turning locals into paid travel advocates - before returning Destie Dan Janes (KHM Agency) lays out his thesis: DMO boards have never been more anxious about their budgets, right as the fundamentals of travel demand have never looked stronger.

Dan explains why travel spending is economically inelastic, why an AI-driven "vacation dividend" is coming, and why the industry-wide shift toward harvesting existing demand (branded search, retargeting, lower-funnel conversion) instead of creating new demand is exactly backwards at exactly the wrong time. The group digs into the K-shaped economy reshaping who travels and what they expect, and why destinations need a real product-development strategy instead of just a promotion budget.

Stuart pushes back on the legislative risk of loosening restricted tourism funding, and the three debate how DMOs shed the "protect the budget at all costs" instinct before a funding crisis forces the issue - including Stuart's own shift at Visit Myrtle Beach toward a mission built around visitation, economic growth, and shaping the destination experience, not just promotion.

Bottom Line: If your marketing budget is optimized entirely around harvesting demand someone else already created, you're winning today by borrowing against tomorrow. The DMOs investing in new demand - and the product to back it up - are built to survive what AI is about to do to travel planning.