Many destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are turning their attention to eco-tourism as more travelers seek the great outdoors. This means offering nature to visitors in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way. DMOs can build travel experiences that foster a sense of responsibility and respect for nature. With the growing demand for responsible travel, this can be a key differentiator for a destination. Here are our tips to build new opportunities:
Build Your Brand Narrative
A clear and consistent narrative around eco-tourism helps position the destination as an authentic choice for environmentally conscious travelers.
- Craft stories that emphasize the destination’s natural beauty, conservation efforts, and community-based tourism.
- Identify local enthusiasts who can be guides for various passions including fishing, birding, rock climbing, and more.
- Highlight sustainable practices, including eco-friendly accommodations, local wildlife preservation, and natural resource management.
- Tie eco-tourism into the destination’s heritage, showing how local traditions and cultural preservation align with nature.
Build Partnerships
Showcasing businesses (e.g., accommodations, tour operators, and restaurants) helps build credibility and attracts eco-driven travelers.
- Work with entrepreneurs that can build experiences that maximize your trails, waterways, and parks.
- Identify and partner with businesses that prioritize sustainability, including eco-resorts, zero-waste hotels, solar-powered transportation, and local, organic restaurants.
- Work with local eco-tourism operators who offer nature-based experiences such as hiking, wildlife viewing, and kayaking, with a focus on preserving the environment.
- Develop a certified green tourism program to showcase these businesses to travelers, ensuring the experience is genuinely eco-friendly.
- Partner with conservation groups, nonprofits, or environmental NGOs to co-create marketing campaigns that highlight joint efforts in sustainability and nature preservation.
- Use these partnerships to promote volunteer tourism opportunities or support for local conservation projects.
Build Authentic and Educational Content
Education and engagement are key to fostering a deeper connection with travelers, encouraging them to respect the environment and make sustainable choices.
- Use storytelling to highlight the importance of conservation and cultural sustainability in the destination.
- Create eco-focused travel guides, blogs, and social media content that inform potential visitors about sustainable practices they can adopt (e.g., using reusable products and reducing carbon footprints).
- Leverage video content to show visitors the impact of eco-tourism and what the destination is doing to promote sustainability (e.g., eco-tours, local conservation projects, and wildlife conservation efforts).
Build Awareness of Off-the-Beaten-Path Destinations
Overtourism is a growing problem in popular destinations, and eco-tourism is a way to distribute visitor traffic to lesser-known areas.
- Promote lesser-known eco-friendly destinations within the region that are less likely to suffer from overtourism but still offer incredible natural beauty and sustainable experiences.
- Encourage off-peak travel to avoid overcrowding and reduce the carbon footprint associated with travel.
- Highlight local initiatives that focus on preserving smaller, more vulnerable regions, such as conservation efforts or community-based tourism programs.
- Example: Visit Iceland promotes sustainable travel to its nature reserves and remote areas, encouraging visitors to explore lesser-known regions that align with the destination’s eco-tourism goals.
For a DMO and its advertising agency to effectively capitalize on eco-tourism, they must position the destination as authentically sustainable, provide real, actionable opportunities for eco-friendly travel, and continuously engage with environmentally conscious travelers through personalized, impactful content and partnerships. Sustainability isn’t just a trend—it’s the future of tourism, and those who embrace it will not only attract the next generation of travelers but also help protect and preserve the very destinations they promote.