Insights and Action Items from ESTO 2026

ESTO 2026 brought together destination marketers, technology leaders, researchers and travel-industry experts to explore how traveler behavior, AI, content, brand and business strategy are changing.

Here are some of the most useful ideas Lee County tourism partners can put into practice.

1. Be the source AI wants to trust

INSIGHT:
In the age of AI, expertise becomes more valuable, not less. Original knowledge, credible sourcing and firsthand perspective help businesses stand out as trustworthy sources of information.

WHY IT MATTERS:
You know things about your business and destination that AI does not inherently know: the stories behind an experience, what guests ask most often, the details that make a visit easier and the specific qualities that differentiate you from similar businesses.

As travelers increasingly use AI to answer highly specific questions, useful and accurate information gives your business a better chance of being understood and recommended.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Build firsthand expertise into your website, listings and social content.
• Keep information accurate, verifiable and current.
• Answer the real questions guests ask.
• Replace generic descriptions such as “family friendly” or “waterfront dining” with useful specifics such as kids menus, high chairs, dockage, sunset views, accessibility, live music or reservation guidance.
• Ask: “Could this description apply to almost any similar business?” If yes, add more of what is uniquely yours.

2. Make every piece of content work harder

INSIGHT:
Strong content should have staying power and be planned for use across multiple channels.

WHY IT MATTERS:
A useful story can continue attracting audiences long after it is published. It can also become website content, email, social posts, sales material and PR if those uses are considered from the beginning.

Clear, descriptive language also helps both travelers and technology understand what the content is actually about.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Create useful evergreen content and establish a regular process for keeping it fresh.
• Favor clear, descriptive headlines over vague or clickbait-style language.
• Before producing a story, photo shoot, interview or event, think about how the material could be reused across web, social, email, sales and PR.
• Ask: “Will this still be useful or interesting a year from now?”

3. Build an audience you can reach directly

INSIGHT:
Email remains one of the most valuable audience relationships because it provides a direct connection instead of relying entirely on another platform.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Algorithms, platforms and search behavior change. An opted-in audience gives you a durable way to maintain a relationship with past and potential visitors.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Treat email growth as an audience-building strategy, not simply a distribution tactic.
• Give visitors a clear reason to subscribe.
• Use email to continue the relationship after a stay, meal, attraction visit or experience rather than communicating only when you have an offer.

4. Give people a reason to care before they have a reason to book

INSIGHT:
Marketing cannot focus only on travelers who are already shopping for a trip. Strong brands create preference earlier by connecting with identity, emotion and belonging.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Travel is increasingly tied to emotional needs such as connection, rest, reunion, rejuvenation and escape. When every business competes only at the transaction stage, the decision can collapse toward price and availability.

An emotional relationship gives someone a reason to remember you before they are ready to book.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Do not make every message an offer.
• Show how your experience makes visitors feel.
• Create traditions, rituals, stories or experiences guests want to participate in and remember.
• Think beyond “How many people saw this?” and ask, “Did this give someone a reason to prefer us?”

5. Find the thing only you can own

INSIGHT:
Tourism marketing can be beautiful and still feel interchangeable. Distinctiveness often comes from the specific, unexpected and local details another business or destination cannot easily copy.

WHY IT MATTERS:
A beach, sunset, cocktail or smiling family may be attractive, but those images alone may not tell someone why your particular experience is worth choosing.

Often, the things employees barely notice anymore are exactly what first-time visitors find memorable.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Ask: “If our logo disappeared, what would make someone know this experience could only happen here?”
• Pay attention to what first-time guests photograph, mention in reviews or tell friends about.
• Look for local characters, traditions, stories, menu items, views, rituals and experiences that are unmistakably yours.
• Put those details forward rather than relying only on polished but generic tourism imagery.

6. A trend is not automatically a strategy

INSIGHT:
The important question is not “What is everyone talking about?” It is “Does this matter to our visitor and our business?”

WHY IT MATTERS:
Trend-chasing can consume time and resources without producing lasting value. New does not always mean relevant.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Before acting on a new trend, platform or technology, ask:

• Is it meaningful to our audience?
• Is it authentic to our business?
• Does it support a real business goal?
• Can we do something genuinely useful with it?

If not, let it pass.

7. Not every brand problem is a marketing problem

INSIGHT:
A strong brand connects marketing with the actual customer experience. More promotion cannot solve every challenge.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Sometimes the issue is not awareness. It may be service, experience design, relevance, trust, product quality, differentiation or an operational problem.

The strongest brands make the promise in their marketing visible in what guests actually experience.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Make sure the experience guests receive reinforces the promise you make in marketing.
• If demand, reviews or repeat visitation are soft, look beyond promotion.
• Examine the full guest journey and ask what may need to improve before spending more money telling people about it.

8. Match AI experimentation to the level of risk

INSIGHT:
AI makes it easier than ever to create tools, workflows and prototypes. But something that works in a demo is not automatically ready for customers.

WHY IT MATTERS:
The consequences of an AI error depend on who receives the output.

An internal workflow reviewed by an employee is very different from a public-facing tool giving information directly to a guest. Customer-facing AI requires stronger standards for accuracy, data, testing, monitoring and accountability.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Experiment freely with low-risk internal AI uses where a person reviews the work.
• Apply higher standards when AI communicates directly with guests or customers.
• For public-facing tools, plan for trusted data, testing, monitoring, maintenance and a clear path for handling incorrect answers.
• Ask: “Who will see this output, and what happens if it is wrong?”

9. Use technology to give people time back

INSIGHT:
AI and automation can compress work that once took hours into minutes, but the goal should not be technology for its own sake. The goal is freeing people to spend more time on work that requires judgment, creativity, relationships and service.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Organizations constantly add new reports, platforms, programs and requests. Without eliminating or simplifying older work, teams eventually run out of capacity.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Look for repetitive reports, processes and administrative work that consume significant staff time.
• Eliminate work that no longer creates enough value.
• Simplify or automate repetitive tasks when appropriate.
• Use AI to accelerate work while preserving human judgment for strategy, accuracy, brand and guest experience.
• Count the hours you recover, not just the dollars you save.

10. Market what people can do, not only what you are

INSIGHT:
Travelers are increasingly organizing trips around something they want to do, experience, feel or accomplish. The experience can become the reason for the trip.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Sometimes a traveler does not begin with a destination. They begin with a goal: see the game, catch a fish, take a food tour, learn something new, run the race or give their children an experience they will remember.

Your business can become part of that reason to travel.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Do not only market what your business is. Market what someone can do because it exists.

For example:

• A hotel can sell the sunrise paddle nearby.
• A restaurant can sell the story behind the grouper.
• A marina can sell the first fish a child catches.
• An attraction can sell the experience a family will still be talking about after the vacation ends.

11. Find your kid magnet

INSIGHT:
Research presented at ESTO showed children playing an increasingly influential role in family travel decisions.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Family marketing traditionally speaks primarily to parents about convenience, price, safety and ease.

Those things matter, but the emotional demand generator may be the child who sees a dolphin, waterslide, shell, baseball tournament, manatee, fishing trip or unforgettable dessert and says, “I want to go there.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Identify your kid magnet: the thing a child is most likely to remember, photograph, tell a friend about or ask a parent to experience.

Then make sure families can see it.

12. Test smaller. Learn sooner.

INSIGHT:
Organizations can spend so much time perfecting an idea before launch that they delay the learning that only real-world experience can provide.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Traveler behavior, technology and media are changing faster than many traditional planning cycles. A smaller pilot can answer questions that months of internal debate cannot.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Test smaller ideas before making large commitments.
• Pilot a new offer, channel, partnership, piece of content or guest experience with a manageable audience.
• Learn from actual customer behavior and improve from evidence.
• When something is not working, ask: “What useful step can we try next?”

13. For meetings, sell proof and appeal

INSIGHT:
Leisure travelers can often be inspired primarily by emotion. Meeting planners also need confidence that an event can succeed.

WHY IT MATTERS:
Meeting planners are making high-stakes recommendations. They have practical questions about air access, hotel inventory, dates, meeting space, transportation, accessibility, cost and logistics.

But practicality alone is not enough. They also have to persuade leaders, clients and attendees that people will want to come.

Strong meetings marketing needs both a proof layer and an appeal layer.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

• Show actual meetings, receptions, group dining, off-site experiences and attendees enjoying the destination.
• Explain why attendees will want to be here.
• Provide the practical information that reassures planners the event can work.
• Give planners content they can use to help sell the destination internally.

14. Make planning easy

INSIGHT:
Meeting planners increasingly expect to find practical information quickly before contacting Sales.

WHY IT MATTERS:
A planner should not have to hunt through multiple pages or PDFs to answer a basic operational question. Easy access to information reduces uncertainty and helps build confidence.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Make important group information easy to find, including:

• Capacity and layouts
• Transportation
• Accessibility
• Nearby accommodations
• Dining
• Group experiences
• Off-site venues
• Arrival and transportation logistics

Specifics build confidence.

15. Turn testimonials into evidence

INSIGHT:
A strong meetings case study answers more than “Did they enjoy hosting their event here?” It asks, “What happened because they hosted their event here?”

WHY IT MATTERS:
A testimonial saying an event was wonderful is helpful. Evidence showing attendance growth, goals achieved, challenges solved or measurable results gives the next planner much stronger reassurance.

Peer validation can be more persuasive than destination self-promotion.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

When hosting groups or events, help capture:

• Goals achieved
• Attendance results
• Guest feedback
• Extensions or buyouts
• Challenges your team helped solve
• Unusual requests successfully handled
• Creative solutions
• Measurable business outcomes

That information can help win the next piece of business.

16. Give Sales a reason to start the conversation again

INSIGHT:
Many meeting planners have already visited, booked or considered a destination. Sometimes the most persuasive message is simply: “Here is what has changed since the last time you looked.”

WHY IT MATTERS:
New developments give Sales a reason to reconnect with planners and give previous visitors a reason to reconsider an experience they may think they already know.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Regularly keep the VCB informed about:

• Renovations
• New spaces
• New menus
• New experiences
• New amenities
• Transportation changes
• Group offerings
• Accessibility improvements
• New services
• Other meaningful developments

Something that feels routine to you may be exactly the news our Sales or Marketing team needs to tell your story again.

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