I’ve spent more than two decades in destination marketing, and I’ve watched the industry change dramatically.

I started in an era when marketing meant print ads, brochures, rack cards, media kits and a well-maintained list of media contacts. Then came websites. Email marketing. Social media. Influencers. Programmatic advertising. Sophisticated analytics. Artificial intelligence.

Every new technology changed how we did our jobs.

Some made us faster. Some made us more efficient. Some completely changed the way we reached people, and now AI is changing the way we create.

It can write a first draft in seconds. Generate dozens of headlines. Summarize research. Analyze data. Repurpose content. Personalize messaging. Help marketers move from an idea to a finished piece of content faster than ever.

The Content Advantage Is Disappearing

For years, one of the biggest challenges in marketing was simply producing enough content. We needed blog posts, social captions, email campaigns, website copy, press releases, videos, graphics and more. AI has changed that equation.

The barrier to creating content is lower than it has ever been. A marketer can take an idea and turn it into a polished draft in minutes. But when everyone has the ability to produce more content, content itself becomes less valuable as a differentiator.

Great Marketing Starts Before the Content

The best marketing has never been about simply producing something. It starts with understanding people. What do they want? What are they curious about? What problem are they trying to solve? What would make them stop scrolling?

What would make them choose one destination, hotel, restaurant, attraction or experience over another? In destination marketing, this matters enormously.

A traveler doesn’t wake up thinking, “I need to consume some destination content today.”

They’re thinking about where they want to go. They’re looking for a great weekend getaway. A place to take their family. Somewhere they can eat something memorable. A new experience. A reason to finally take the trip they’ve been talking about for years.

The job of the marketer is to understand that person well enough to connect the destination to what they actually care about. AI can help us execute that idea. It shouldn’t be responsible for coming up with the reason to care.

Technology Should Give Us More Time to Be Human

This is where I think marketers have an opportunity. We shouldn’t look at AI simply as a way to replace tasks or produce more content. We should use it to create more room for the work that actually requires us.

AI Can Help You Find the Story. It Can’t Live It.

The heart of destination marketing isn’t found in polished campaigns—it’s in the everyday stories already woven into a place. They come from longtime restaurant owners, local artists, community hubs, hidden historic gems, and residents who know the perfect sunset spot. These stories don’t appear on a content calendar; they surface when marketers get curious, ask questions, and step into the community. AI can help shape and share those stories, but it can’t replace the human connection required to discover them.

The Marketer’s Role Is Changing

AI doesn’t diminish the role of marketers—it elevates the parts that only humans can do. As technology takes on more production tasks, marketers gain space to think strategically, listen more closely, observe what truly matters, and craft stronger stories. The ones who will excel aren’t those who churn out the most content, but those who understand which ideas are worth creating in the first place.

Think. Listen. Connect.

Marketing will keep evolving as new tools, platforms, and algorithms emerge, but the fundamentals stay the same: understand your audience, listen to what they need, and connect your message to something meaningful. AI shouldn’t replace the human side of marketing—it should create more space for it. Because when everyone can produce content faster, having something genuinely worth saying becomes the real advantage, and no technology can replicate that.