The DMO industry has been relatively quiet for a few years when it comes to completely embarrassing ourselves. That is, until Panama City Beach became the most recent organization to land in the wrong headlines.
What I want people to understand is this: the impact of situations like Panama City Beach (and many more) is not isolated to one destination, one state, or one board. The ripple effects of what happened are felt far beyond the Florida Panhandle. That reality has been a core focus of my work as Chair of the CDME program and is central to why I launched Oetting Alchemy.
Being named Chair of CDME is one of the most meaningful professional of my career. I’ve been outspoken about the role CDME played in shaping my leadership and my trajectory in this industry. Quite frankly, I would not be where I am today without it. I’ve written about this before, and I’ll say it again: professional growth in this industry is not optional if we expect to be taken seriously.
Tourism professionals need to overcompensate when it comes to training and operational excellence. This is the equivalent of, “dress for the job you want not the job you have.”
At my first meeting as Chair, I told the board my passion for CDME was driven by two things.
First, I want to give back in the same way others invested in me early in my career. One of the best parts of the tourism industry is how much we support one another. Every year when I speak to the 30 Under 30 class at their orientation, I tell them the same thing: don’t be shy. Walk up to anyone. Ask questions. This is one of the few industries where people genuinely want to help each other get better.
The second reason is the point of this blog.
This industry is hard enough without our own peers making it harder. Embezzlement. Poor governance. Failure to follow basic best practices. A lack of honesty and integrity. With growing budgets and expanding teams, DMOs have increasingly found themselves under scrutiny from elected officials, hoteliers, and skeptics who already struggle to understand our value. Fragmented messaging, weak internal systems and lazy oversight only add fuel to that fire.
Destinations International launched the Advocacy Summit in 2017 for a reason. It was designed for professionals tasked with articulating the value of destination promotion to elected officials, community partners, and business leaders. I’ve attended every summit except one, and each year it gets better. But there’s an underlying pattern that’s hard to ignore.
Too often, the Advocacy Summit feels like a competition to see who has the most out-of-touch mayor or the most combative hoteliers. Sessions frequently begin with a jaw-dropping quote from an elected official or board member. The room collectively groans. Then the conversations spill into dinner and drinks where group therapy begins.
“They just don’t get us.”
“Your mayor sounds bad, but listen to what mine did.”
“The hoteliers are the worst.”
There’s truth in much of this. But we need to ask a harder question.
Why does an entire industry still struggle to explain what it does? Why, nine years into a major advocacy push, does this problem persist and in some cases feel worse?
DI, its advocacy committee, and partners have done meaningful work developing toolkits, frameworks, and messaging. The most recent Futures Study highlighted the importance of operational excellence, DMOs have hired PR firms, produced beautiful videos, and shared economic impact data. And yet, it only takes one highly visible failure to undo years of progress.
Here’s the uncomfortable reality.
While we’re at the bar talking about our challenges, others are doing the same.
At the U.S. Conference of Mayors, your mayor is trading stories about which DMO is causing the most headaches.
At the International City/County Management Association gatherings, city managers are listening to cautionary tales about DMO CFOs misusing funds or leaders failing basic governance tests.
At hotel brand conferences, hoteliers are swapping notes about destinations with opaque budgets, poor accountability, or worse, felony arrests. And then, three months later, those same hoteliers get transferred to a hotel in your market finding themselves on your board and ready to make a splash in their new destination by uncovering fraud and weak strategy.
People are talking. The only question is what they’re saying about us.
That reality alone is reason enough to invest in CDME and DMAP. It’s why organizations engage CFObyDesign for financial oversight, bring in Bill Geist to strengthen board leadership, or ask Oetting Alchemy to conduct an Organizational Readiness Scorecard.
This industry is complex. It’s nuanced. It’s difficult to explain. We make it exponentially harder when we ignore best practices, hire poorly, or fail to pay attention to the fundamentals.
At Oetting Alchemy, my commitment is simple: help organizations operate above board, with clarity, structure, and integrity. Because maybe, just maybe, the next time your mayor is at the bar with their peers, they say, “Well… sucks to be you.”