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Destination Roadmapping
A 10-minute spark of inspiration with a side of tough love—helping small towns create big impact through tourism, events, and unforgettable visitor experiences.
Episodes
61 episodes
Are You Funding Symptoms or Solutions?
Are you creating solutions or just making the symptom look better?In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky looks at what happens when short-term fixes quietly become long-term strategies. A program, event, or initiative may imp...
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What's Holding Your Destination Back?
Sometimes a good project doesn’t fail because it was a bad idea. It fails because the conditions it needed were never put in place.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky looks at the gap between what communities build...
Does Your Community Need More Ideas?
Small towns rarely suffer from a shortage of ideas.The problem is what happens when every new idea gets added to the pile and almost nothing ever comes off.In this episode, Vicky talks about why “good idea” does not automatically ...
What Does Success Look Like in 5 Years?
Do you have any idea what tourism success could look like in your community five years from now?Far too often, we measure progress by what we started, what we built, what we promoted, or funded. Unfortunately, activity does not always gu...
What Happens When Your Champion Leaves?
What if your tourism champion walks out the door? Vicky tackles the silent risk lurking behind over-dependence on one champion in this episode of Destination Roadmapping. She addresses lost relationships, undocumented history, shaky partnership...
Is Your Event Worth Staying Overnight For?
Does your event actually justify a hotel stay or are you simply wishing attendees will transform a completely feasible day trip into an overnight excursion?On this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky explains exactly what compels v...
Who Decided This was a Visitor Experience?
In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re putting a few tourism sacred cows on trial.Just because a historic site, museum, monument, or local landmark has appeared in every brochure for twenty years does not mean visitors ...
What do National Celebrations Tell Us About Ourselves?
What do the things that we celebrate say about who we are as a country? In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky explores national holidays, whether they’re days of independence, memorial days, or commemorations of service,...
What Hours Should We Be Open?
Choosing business hours should involve more than asking, “What works for us?”In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky looks at how shops, museums, attractions, visitor centers, and downtown businesses can choose hours based on a...
What...this isn't Australia?
What happens when your town shares a name with another destination and visitors find the wrong hotels, events, attractions, or even the wrong state?In Episode 52, Vicky looks at the very believable myth of travelers arriving in Austria w...
Is Being Historic a Gift or a Curse?
Being historic can be one of a community’s greatest tourism assets, or it can be a very comfortable excuse for offering visitors remarkably little to do.In this episode, Vicky explores the difference between documenting history and creat...
What Makes a Place Memorable?
In Episode 50 of Destination Roadmapping, we’re talking about the small details, honest experiences, and unexpected moments that make visitors remember a community long after they leave. Because memorable places usually aren’t trying t...
The Email Nobody Answered
How many opportunities has your organization lost because nobody answered an email?You'll probably never know.A sponsor looking for partnership information. A vendor asking about booth space. A volunteer ready to help. A performer...
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Do You Have Too Many Vendors?
What if the problem isn't that you need more vendors?What if you already have too many?In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky challenges one of the most common assumptions in event planning: Bigger is always better. Mor...
The Capacity Mirage
Many community organizations have a phrase they rely on when resources get tight:"We'll figure it out."At first, it sounds admirable. Resourceful. Resilient.But what happens when "we'll figure it out" stops being an ...
The Return Visit Formula
Getting someone to visit once is great.Getting them to come back is where the real magic (and sustainability) happens.This week, Vicky dives into The Return Visit Formula: seven practical strategies for turning one-time vis...
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Rethinking "That Won't Work Here"
Sometimes the most exasperating phrase in tourism, events, and community development is:“We tried that already.”In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky explores why communities often abandon potentially good ideas...
The Expectation Escalation Problem
Every successful event eventually faces the same dangerous question:“What should we add next year?”In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky dives into the Expectation Escalation Problem, when communities stop focusing on ...
What if Your Downtown isn't the Main Draw?
Some communities spend years trying to turn downtown into the star attraction while visitors are actually coming for the lake, the sports complex, the trails, the rodeo, or the hospitalIn this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vicky So...
When Your Visitor Experience is Built Around Assumptions
Some communities are building tourism experiences for visitors they WISH they had instead of the visitors already showing up.And that disconnect creates problems fast.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re unpa...
Shade, Seating, and Snacks
What makes visitors stay longer in a community?It may not be your attractions, your branding, or your event calendar.It might be something much simpler: Shade. Seating. Snacks.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, Vic...
The Booth Maze: Why Attendees Miss Half of Your Vendors
If your vendors are complaining about low traffic, but your event felt busy, you don’t have an attendance problem.You have a layout problem.In this episode of Destination Roadmapping, we’re digging into The Booth Maze. The ...
Are You a Pass-Through Town?
Are people visiting your town or just passing through it?Many communities see constant traffic and assume that means tourism is healthy. Cars are moving. Gas stations are busy. Drive-thrus stay packed.But pass-through traff...
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