One of my favorite quotes comes from Chip Conley, founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels: “What Counts that We’re Not Counting?” In his sensational TED Talk, Chip talks of the fourth Dragon King of Bhutan, who ascended to the throne at the age of 18. As the story goes, he was asked, early in his reign, about his country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). He responded by asking why GDP was so important, suggesting that tracking “Gross National Happiness” should be a much more important measure of success.

In my three decades in the Destination Marketing sector, I cannot recall a time in which DMOs were more under siege than during this just-concluded terrible, horrible, no good, bad year. An Administration that thought Brand USA was frivolous. A State Legislature that came perilously close to eliminating funding for its DMO. Sensationally accomplished DMO CEOs that were caught in the politics and drama of this age and cut loose, despite clearly exceeding their performance goals (the Caesarian knives last year were welded by both politicians and Board activists). And, as much as it pains me to say it, so much of the carnage was the result of self-inflicted wounds. So, let us, in this first week of the New Year, jointly adopt the following 7 Resolutions for 2018:

Why is this so hard? On both sides of the purchase funnel. I mean…it’s not like the internet is new. It’s not like Destination Marketing Organizations haven’t been utilizing the World Wide Web since the mid-1990s to showcase the experiences in their communities. And, it’s not like there haven’t been thousands of conferences and hundreds of thousands of presentations on how to do this more effectively. So why, after over 20 years of the internet, is it virtually impossible to find out whether I want to choose one destination over another?

It’s but just over a week since we returned from the Annual Conference of Destinations International (formerly Destination Marketing Association International)…and our collective heads are simply spinning. If there was a prevailing theme at the conference this year…it was that destination marketing is increasingly being weaponized by politicians that know that the masses don’t understand the crucial importance of what we do on their behalf. Thus, it is easy to stoke the flames of class envy with an unsophisticated electorate. And, while many politicians enter public life with the best of intentions, they quickly realize that securing future votes is more important than doing what is right.

If you are a Marketing or Sales professional and have aspirations of leading a Destination Marketing Organization, you’re not going to like what I have to say. Those that aspire to lead the DMOs of the future will need to be political operatives more than accomplished marketers.