6 Travel Marketing Strategies That Actually Drive Visits & Stays
Forget generic campaigns. These real-world DMO examples show how specific, audience-driven strategies are helping destinations cut through the noise and engage with travelers — even in the off-season.
By Colleen Ringer
The most effective travel marketing tactics are the ones that are tailored to meet the unique needs of each destination. These six destination marketing examples showcase how to integrate specificity into your strategy to ensure you’re attracting the right visitors at the right time.
If You Want to: Appeal to Specific Travelers
Strategy: Segment your content and speak to one traveler at a time. The more specific your message, the more likely it is to connect.
When Brand USA (the destination marketing organization for the U.S. abroad) needed content to resonate with niche international audiences, including the Indian market and LGBTQ+ travelers attending WorldPride, our team started where all effective destination marketing should: with audience research. That insight guided the development of segmented itineraries tailored to each group’s unique interests, planning behaviors and cultural context. From there, we layered in high-impact travel inspiration — the kind that sparks imagination and drives action. The takeaway? The more specific you are about who you’re speaking to, the more powerfully your content will connect (and find its way into search and AI results).
If You Want to: Strengthen Your Search Rankings
Strategy: Invest in content audits and SEO strategy to surface the right stories at the right time for the right users.
Travelers visit an average 38 websites when planning a trip, according to an Expedia study. With such a saturated market, the Arizona Office of Tourism (AOT) wanted to ensure its new site stood out from the rest. To help AOT improve searchability, increase traffic and build engagement — getting the right content to the right people at the right time — we performed a traffic analysis, competitive analysis and content audit of its existing site. We combed through nearly 700 pages, assessing what was working and what could use some improvement, and made specific recommendations for content migration and creation for the new site.
If You Want to: Boost Overnight Stays
Strategy: Create seasonal, audience-specific campaigns that promote multi-day experiences over day trips.
When Niagara Falls USA came to C/A with a desire to boost that all-important destination metric — number of overnight stays — we responded with a content-focused approach that positions Niagara as far more than a day-trip destination. Each season, we create segmented digital marketing campaigns to reach and engage drive- and fly-market couples, families, shoppers and adventurers, with the goal of tempting them into multi-day getaways at one of America’s natural wonders. These digitally focused campaigns give the organization a clear picture of its marketing efforts’ impact and afford us the ability to shift gears mid-campaign as needed to maximize message saturation.
If You Want to: Show Up in AI-Generated Itineraries
Strategy: Write the kind of content AI tools can actually find and use — clear, specific itineraries, well-labeled pages and answers to real traveler questions.
As AI-driven travel planning tools reshape how people discover destinations, DMOs need to think beyond traditional search. Whether users are prompting ChatGPT for a three-day wine country itinerary or asking Google’s AI Overviews where to go for a winter getaway, inclusion depends on structured, relevant and specific content. We help DMOs optimize for this new discovery model by creating content that mirrors how people ask questions — and how AI delivers answers. That means prioritizing clear headings, focused itineraries, well-labeled assets and landing pages that speak directly to intent. Choose Chicago offers landing pages, itineraries and articles that offer easy-for-AI-to-crawl information for a range of interests and travelers, from first-timers and families to Black and LGBTQ+ travelers.
If You Want to: Increase Off-Season Visitors
Strategy: Showcase off-season gems and timely activities that flip seasonal perceptions and drive off-peak demand.
From tip to tip, Long Island’s 120-mile expanse offers everything from big-city skylines to quaint harborside serenity — not to mention lush nature preserves, cozy B&Bs, world-class wineries and a star-powered social scene. And while it’s known for its sand and surf, it’s truly a four-season destination. Our mission from Discover Long Island was to prove this to prospective visitors, enticing affluent couples and families to visit the destination during the fall and winter “off” seasons. Part of our digital campaign strategy was to showcase this diversity, communicating the wealth of opportunity awaiting travelers on Long Island through digital ads and content-rich landing pages. The C/A team built a suite of ad creative highlighting the best seasonal activities in the region — from quaint inns and fun fall festivals to historic sites, museums and wine tasting. Once live, our ability to make quick campaign adjustments to messaging and targeting allowed the team to lower the campaign CPMs and drive more impressions and traffic for Discover Long Island.
If You Want to: Appeal to a Broader Audience
Strategy: Build your brand around a diverse range of experiences to expand beyond your core visitor base.
Dubbed the epicenter of NASCAR racing in America, North Carolina’s Cabarrus County is well known among motorsports enthusiasts, but the county’s other attributes are often overshadowed. To broaden the destination’s appeal, we helped Explore Cabarrus County create a new website built on a content strategy that highlights the region’s wealth of outdoor adventures, craft breweries, restaurants and local culture, alongside its iconic racing heritage. By integrating an editorial sensibility throughout the site’s content, Cabarrus County’s website now appeals to a wide range of user interests and encourages “dreaming” moments for a variety of traveler types.
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We never take a one-size-fits-all approach. Let’s chat about a strategy that meets your needs.
Colleen has worked with clients large and small for more than a decade as a writer, editor and content strategist. She has managed content marketing programs for national and global brands, including hospital systems, universities and nonprofits. Before entering the world of content marketing, Colleen lived in the land of magazine publishing and wrote about architecture, design and travel.
As a mother of a video game-obsessed son, Colleen spends part of her free time learning about Fortnite and the other part trying to recruit her son to root for the Arizona Cardinals. She loves a good book, a strong iced tea and when her Fantasy Football team is winning.