October 8, 2025 • 49 mins
We're so fascinated on how Destination Marketing is being transformed by AI that we partnered with Mindtrip to bring together this 3-part mini series. We have an incredible line-up of speakers joining us in advance of our AI Summit to exploring how AI is transforming the way travelers dream, plan, and book their journeys.
In our first episode, we sit down with Janette Roush, SVP of Innovation & Chief AI Officer at Brand USA, to talk about how destination marketing is evolving as trip planning moves from search boxes to chat interfaces and AI-generated itineraries.
Janette shares how Brand USA is reimagining engagement - from building smarter, more conversational tools that inspire travel to creating frameworks that help DMOs and industry partners use AI responsibly and effectively. We discuss what it means to shift focus from clicks to intent, how automation can free teams to focus on creativity, and why data quality matters more than ever.
Janette is one of the sharpest minds in this space and is the perfect guest to kick off this series with. We will have 2 more episodes ready to released each Thursday which will feature Lynn Carpenter, the SVP of Global Marketing for Visit California and Discover Puerto Rico CMO Storm Tussey. We will also be joined by Mindtrip's CMO Michelle Denogean in our final episode to talk about where this technology is heading. We hope you really enjoy this series. Don't forget to register to join our AI Summit to listen to these leaders directly.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
I think your listeners should be paying
attention to Model ContextProtocol, MCP.
Uh, I think, I mean, this thisis me just making a bet on this,
so you know, I crystal ballstuff.
But model context protocol isgoing to give us the opportunity
to imbue our personal AI withfacts, with truth.
(00:28):
And I think that's going to be ahuge game changer in the world
of travel.
SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Travel Trends.
This is your host, DanChristian, and we're about to
begin a special three-partseries exploring the impact of
AI on destination marketing.
I was really keen to bring thisseries together because we have
not focused on destinationmarketing in our entire history
of travel trends, all sixseasons.
We've never dived into one ofthe most important topics in
(01:02):
travel and specifically how AI,which I think all of our
listeners know, especially giventhat we're running the AI Summit
again this year, and we'reactually going to feature the
guests from this series at ourAI Summit coming up in a few
weeks' time.
So I was very keen to look atthe cross-section of DMOs or
destination managementorganizations as they're known
(01:24):
and the impact of AI.
And we found the perfect partnerto bring this series together
with, and that is our friendsover at Mind Trip who believe
that travel is at its best whenlocal expertise meets the power
of AI.
So we partnered with the team atMind Trip to bring together
these three insightfulconversations with some of the
industry's leading voices.
(01:44):
And in our third episode, at theend, you're going to hear a
bonus discussion with Michelle,who is the CMO of Mindtrip.
And I was the one that wantedMichelle to join the
conversation to share herperspective after you listen to
these three amazing individualsand understand where technology
is taking travel marketing next.
Now, in today's episode, episodeone, we're going to be joined by
(02:07):
Jeanette Roush, who is the chiefAI officer at Brand USA.
I recently had the chance toshare the stage with Jeanette at
the Arrival AI Forum inWashington.
And I can tell you she's one ofthe sharpest minds in this
space.
And you're going to learn thatfor yourself in today's
conversation.
She has a deep insight into howAI is already reshaping the way
(02:28):
that destinations connect withtravelers.
And she's the perfect guest tokick this series off.
But we also have two additionalspecial guests over the next two
weeks as we release theseepisodes each Thursday.
And next Thursday, you're goingto hear from Lynn Carpenter, the
VP of Global Marketing at VisitCalifornia.
And then we're going to bejoined by Storm Tussey, the CMO
(02:49):
at Discover Puerto Rico.
So this is going to be anamazing three-part series.
Make sure you're subscribed onthe streaming platform of your
choice to be notified when newepisodes go live, as each
episode is going to explore howdestination marketers are
adapting in an AI-driven worldand how you can apply these
lessons as the traveler journeykeeps evolving, given these new
(03:10):
planning tools and greaterpersonalization.
So on that note, let's bring inour very first guet, Jeanette
Rausch from Brand USA.
Jeanette, thanks so much forjoining us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Thank you, Dan.
I'm thrilled to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Well, I'm thrilled that you are our very first
guest on this series inpartnership with Mind Trip to
talk about how AI istransforming the world of
destination marketing and theimpact it's having.
And obviously, your role as thechief AI officer as well as the
senior vice president ofinnovation at Brand USA couldn't
be more relevant to this topic.
(03:42):
So I've got lots of questionsfor you.
But tell all of our listenerswhere you are first.
I think you're in the beautifulcity of New York.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
I am.
I'm in Harlem, USA, uh in myliving room.
SPEAKER_00 (03:53):
Ah, fantastic.
That's great.
And I obviously, for all of ourlisteners, you can see clips and
highlights on our socialchannels.
So we'll post a number of clipsand highlights from our
conversation with Jeanette.
But wherever you're listening tothis, obviously the uh the
session itself is is audio, butthe highlights are on our social
channels.
And you can see the really coolbackground she has because I
first said to Jeanette, like,the offices look amazing at
Brand USA.
(04:14):
And she's like, nope, this isthis is my uh my apartment in
Harlem.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
We got we got the pot out on the kitchen counter
back there because I'm aMissouri girl at heart.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
That's awesome.
Well, that's what I was gonnaask.
You're not from New York, so no,I'm from Casey.
You have yeah.
Well, tell us a little bit aboutyour background.
Obviously, we know each other,but I want all of our listeners
to understand your yourbackground in the travel
industry and ultimately how youdecided to take on this role and
embrace AI.
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
Great.
Well, my background is reallynot as a technologist.
I was a theater major.
So I moved to New York Cityafter college because I was
getting my MFA in theateradministration and you know,
fell in love with New York Cityas a part of that.
And the jobs that I got intheater actually ended up being
(05:02):
in theater and tourism.
So I worked for a company, asmall company owned by Mac
Cameron McIntosh that wasacquired by Broadway.com in
2000.
And so the like my role wasmarketing and selling FIT and
group tickets to Broadway showsto international travelers.
(05:23):
Uh so I did that for eightyears.
I then moved deeper into theadvertising world for Broadway.
So spent uh eight years at aBroadway ad agency where I
oversaw the insights team.
So making that connectionbetween what tickets are being
sold and then like for how muchmoney, which part of house, how
(05:44):
is media impacting that?
And again, because I was atheater major, a lot of this was
very self-taught.
Just my team and I, driven bythe curiosity of what what
impacts, you know, actuallyaffect the sales of these
tickets.
Right.
So I then uh in 2018, yes, in2018, I joined New York City
(06:08):
Tourism.
Uh and ultimately I was theirEVP of marketing and digital.
And that evolved into, you know,think back to 2022 with the
onset of Chat GPT.
My brother texted me with a linkto it the day that it came out.
And I just it blew my mind.
(06:29):
I saw that, I was like, becausethere were, you know, there's
lots of tech stuff all the time.
Like I didn't feel this wayabout NFTs or cryptocurrency
necessarily, but I wascompletely obsessed with Chat
GPT in part because I sawimmediately, if it had been
available 10 years earlier whenI was running this insights
(06:51):
team, it would have absolutelychanged the way that I
approached that job.
So all of the stuff that I wastrying to learn how to do, like
I was trying to learn Python sothat it'd be easier to get the
sales figures into Excel.
Well, now I like it would beinstantaneous.
So it's almost out of jealousyand bitterness.
(07:14):
I was like, Well, how can I useit for the job I have today?
Since I can't use it for thisjob that I haven't had in a long
time.
And it turned into all ofDecember 22, just trying to
figure out who who was on top ofthis, who online was writing
about and using this new thing.
And I wasn't finding as muchcontent as I wanted.
(07:37):
So when January came around, Isaid, you know, I'm going to
test this once a day onsomething new at work every
single day.
And then I'm going to shareanything that I learn on
LinkedIn.
And by the end of the month, Ihad a good working knowledge of
how the tool worked at thattime.
And I had uh two speakingopportunities.
(07:58):
And really, that was it.
I just leaned into it reallyhard.
I found it incredibly valuablein my role in New York City.
And so when this job was postedat Brand USA, uh, it felt like a
really natural fit.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Very cool.
Well, I love getting abackstory, especially knowing
that your, you know, your MFAtheater, like this, the world of
storytelling, which becomesincredibly relevant with using
tools like AI to be able tocreate video content.
And like, as you well know, asan expert now in this space,
generative AI, it's an explosionof content.
And a lot of companies aretrying to figure out how to use
(08:32):
it.
And ultimately it comes back towhat is the purpose and what is
it you're trying to create foron behalf of your brand?
So I've got so many questionsfor you, but I think it's also
really cool for our listeners,not only to hear that you know,
you're based in New York andyou've got this deep
understanding of that city,which is, you know, one of the
most visited uh tourism centersin all of the world.
So you have the background withNew York City, you've been there
(08:54):
for nearly 20 years, and then ofcourse you've joined brand USA
in the last year, and there'sbeen so much change of brand
USA.
I mean, from budget changes,geopolitical factors, so many
things going on.
And so your role at this timecouldn't be more relevant to
brand USA.
Obviously, to have someone inyour capacity is really
important.
I think that's where I'm keen tohave this conversation with you
(09:15):
now, and I'm sure a lot ofpeople will be inspired by this
because many other organizationsdon't have someone in a role
like yours, and they're quicklyrealizing that they need to.
So let's talk about that for amoment.
So, with brand USA being one ofthe first tourism boards to
appoint a chief AI officer, whatprompted that move and and how
does that work with also youdoing the innovation side of it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
So the way that it works for brand USA, I think
what prompted Fred to do this ispart of you know, Fred Dixon,
our uh president and CEO, uh wasour president and CEO at New
York City Tourism.
So I knew Fred even back fromhis Nashville days, you know, in
the late 90s.
So we've we've been friends fora long time.
(10:01):
So, you know, clearly he hearsme talk about hey hi at New York
City tourism, he doesn't deletethat from his brain when he goes
to brand USA.
Uh and it's just you it was agreat opportunity for him at a
moment when he gets to definethe role of this organization,
just to acknowledge that AI isgoing to have a huge impact on
(10:24):
the work of tourismprofessionals.
And I think it's going to havean enormous impact on DMOs.
And I couldn't be more gratefulthat he like shares this vision
for what's possible.
And the work that now we'retrying to do at Brand USA with
AI falls into three tranches.
So it's operational excellence,you know, taking advantage of me
(10:48):
being there and having thisknowledge of AI to bringing the
staff like up to speed asindividual contributors, and
then dive into departmentalworkflows.
So really defining how does anorganization that has existed,
you know, since 2011, how do youcome in and rethink it with that
(11:08):
lens?
The second tranche is industryempowerment.
So because as you said, therearen't other DMOs that have this
opportunity to have a chief AIofficer right now.
So how can our learnings helpthe entire industry?
And then the third tranche ishow does this work that we're
doing actually driveinternational inbound tourism?
(11:31):
So, how can AI make the UnitedStates more discoverable and
more bookable, whether it's aB2B, you know, meeting side, uh
leisure side, or if it's aconsumer.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
Very interesting.
And obviously, the inspiration,of course, for you, as you were
highlighting when ChatGPT andthe explosion of Gen AI Tools
came about, obviously you werefascinated by this.
And I think one of the thingsthat also stands out to me in
your background and is thatyou're a non-technical founder
in your role.
And I think that's important forour listeners to, and I've
listened to you give a number ofother talks.
(12:03):
You're obviously a greatspeaker, and you know, so I one
of the many reasons I'm thrilledto have you as part of this.
And I know you'll be part of ourAI summit too later this year,
but this because you've got somuch to offer on this topic, but
it's very interesting that youhave a non-technical background.
So I just wanted to go back tothat for a moment to all of our
listeners.
If you could share a little bitmore about your role.
I mean, obviously, you talkedabout the three tranches, so I
(12:24):
think you've covered um uhcertainly the areas that you're
focusing on, but just tounderstand a bit more of like
what the role is for a chief AIofficer, and then specifically
what inspired you to make thattransition.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
So the work then comes down to what are the ways
that I can move each of thosethree tranches forward.
So, like literally at brand USA,that would mean sitting down
with our three-person humanresources team, mapping out what
does your workflow look like.
Like if you think about humanresources, and it and this is
(12:59):
really a departmental process, Ithink, when we're looking at AI
implementation, because our HRteam is going to have more in
common with other HR teams andhow they apply AI versus you
know our marketing team.
So it's about sitting down andsaying, What is what is the work
of HR?
(13:20):
Well, you you know, you'rerecruiting new staff, you're
helping to manage uh payroll,you're helping to manage uh
benefits.
Like there's like seven or eightbroad areas, none of which have
anything to do with each other,right?
So it's possible to be great atthree of the areas and you know,
need support on the other fourareas.
(13:41):
So you want to take each ofthose areas and then just
literally look at what are thetasks involved in recruiting?
What are the tasks involved inmanaging retirement benefits and
seeing which of those tasks doyou hate the most and you would
like to find ways to make easierand is can AI help with that
(14:02):
yet?
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
Yeah.
Well, it's interesting aboutyour role, and I think a lot of
our listeners know my backgroundbeing digital technology
marketing, but specifically achief digital officer, which in
many ways, you know, now we havethe chief AI officer.
And so yeah, you're a greatexample of that where you need
to figure out how thistechnology applies across the
business.
So we've been on this 20-yearjourney of digital
transformation ever since thedot-com boom, and that's sort of
(14:23):
when I came into the travelindustry.
So I have that background andunderstanding.
And I am, like you, that muchmore motivated and excited with
this next wave of AI and wherewe're headed.
So, one thing I always want todo with our listeners,
especially as we think aboutdestination marketing and uh
DMOs as they're called, and todemystify that for any of our
listeners, whenever we use thatterm, it's destination
(14:45):
management organization.
Uh, but when we think aboutdestination marketing, one of
the things I'm keen tounderstand from your perspective
is how AI has been utilized sofar, and then where you see us
currently in 2025.
Obviously, we'll get into what'sahead.
Um, but I'd love to hear aboutthe early adoption because,
again, for me, this isfascinating because there's so
(15:07):
many different utilizations ofthis technology and having
someone like you work with allthe different departments.
And interestingly, uh, the headof technology over at TUI, uh,
as I was, he gave one of thebest presentations I thought at
the ITB Berlin conferenceearlier this year.
And he talked about the factthat as an organization, they
are essentially they have theirown LLM internally that everyone
interacts with.
(15:28):
And so they've built their owncustom LLM that has all their
proprietary data.
But then literally their teamworks with different departments
in the business to try andfigure out where the pain points
are and how can we use AI tosolve them.
And I love that because it'svery similar to what I was doing
with digital.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhere you think we've gotten to
with AI in destination marketingand where we stand as of having
(15:51):
this conversation.
SPEAKER_01 (15:52):
Uh so I have a good viewpoint, I think, a good
vantage point on how DMOs areusing AI today, because I'm part
of a group called uh uh if youknow GroupNow out of Copenhagen,
they have a program called AIOpener for Destinations that
I've been an expert advisor forfor the last two years.
(16:12):
And then there's a US cohort ofthat that is run by Miles
Partnership.
So I get to listen to DMOsacross Canada, the United
States, and across Europe once amonth to talk about how they're
like literally talk about howthey're using AI and what are
new ways to apply it and whatare we not thinking about.
(16:35):
And I think this kind of work isso important because open AI,
they don't care how we use it.
They're they're not going tocreate some kind of guide for
DMOs on incorporating AI intoyour work.
So we have to do it.
That's that's on us.
And it's early days still.
So for anybody listening whothinks, oh goodness, I'm I
(16:57):
haven't started anything yet.
I don't have an AI policy for myorganization yet.
We're still using BYO AI orshadow AI.
Like the people who are in thatspot, they're not behind yet.
Like that is that is probablythe vast majority of DMOs right
now.
That it's still individual usecases, the people who find it
(17:21):
interesting, diving in usingtheir own tools, whether they're
free or they're personal paidtools, just to explore what
works and what doesn't work, thethe way that I did when I was in
New York City.
So we're now at the point, and Ithink this has like started
happening throughout 2025, whereDMOs are now starting to put
(17:44):
policies into place so that thestaff feels more comfortable
using AI.
Uh they're starting to providepaid secure tools to their staff
so that anything that you putinto Chat GPT doesn't become
part of the underlying knowledgeof the language model when they
do their next training run.
(18:05):
But in terms of like beyondthat, I think there's you know
certain DMOs that are doingincredible work, like Kara
Franker, who's now with theFlorida Keys, when she was uh at
Estes Park, the entire team theysaid we're going to be AI first,
and they instituted a chat boton their website.
(18:26):
They worked with uh Intentful tocreate a content generation
platform that they were using onthe back end for their blogs and
for their websites.
Like they put systems in place.
They made sure that once a montheverybody was required or once a
week the staff was required togive a report on how they had
used AI throughout the week.
(18:46):
So like she went full in.
I think where most folks are isprobably at that individual use
case place, and they arethinking about how can a
department take advantage ofthat.
So it's it's still very earlydays.
SPEAKER_00 (19:05):
Well, it's interesting.
So saying it, as you justpointed out, it's very early
days, and I think that's wherethere's a lot of hype around AI
and its potential.
And we've been living throughthat hype cycle now for the
better part of 18 months, andthere continues to be headlines
that dominate that I thinkintimidate people and often can
cause more concern and confusionthan it is about realizing
(19:26):
opportunity.
So, one of the things I want tomake sure that we do in our
discussion, as I'm sure youappreciate too, is like actually
giving some real examples of howAI is being utilized.
And that's certainly the themefor our AI summit.
And I know you're part of the AIforum as well, that arrival is
taking place in Washington, D.C.
So, depending on when you'relistening to that, that's
happening on uh September 30th.
And then you have the AI Summituh uh, which is virtual on
(19:50):
October 28th and 29th.
Um, and the focus is going to beshowcasing tools.
So let's talk aboutAmericaThebeautiful.com.
Um, many of our listeners aremultitasking when they're
listening to our podcast andalways ask for mention the
website to make sure I can I gettext messages and emails that
like perfect.
There you go.
America the Beautiful, pull thatup.
And uh I would love for you tojust tell us a little bit about
(20:12):
the purpose of that site and howyou've started to use AI.
I know you guys work with MindTrip and I've seen some of the
integrations, and obviously Iknow that business really well.
I love the team, I love thebusiness, and I think it's
really exciting that they haveexpanded from just B2C and to
B2B and working with destinationmanagement organizations.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat website and then how you've
decided to embrace AI for abetter user experience.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
So the website is a way of us expressing a new
campaign online.
So Leah Chandler, our chiefmarketing officer, joined the
organization in March andimmediately set to work with our
agency partners to figure out inthis moment what is the correct
message for the United States touse to for international tourism
(20:58):
promotion.
And as part of that process,when they landed on the America
the Beautiful campaign, if youlook at uh some of our other
websites, our consumer websiteis visitheusa.com.
And it's like kind of at thatpoint, you know, in a website's
life cycle where you're thinkingabout the next thing.
(21:18):
And so the team decided ratherthan try to retrofit Visit the
USA to be a platform to showcasethis new campaign, that they
would create a standalonewebsite to do that.
But this was all determined,yeah, about six weeks maybe
before IPW, which is you knowthe large trade show where we
(21:39):
wanted to launch the campaign.
So that would be a really shortturnaround.
I mean, it was it was anincredibly quick turnaround to
build an entire website.
But it would have been a muchbigger job if like creating all
of that content to fill in thewebsite to make it a really
robust experience.
So the you know, decision wasmade that rather than try to
(22:03):
literally create every singleword of content that would be
needed to bring the campaign tolife, that this would be a good
opportunity to think about theother changes that are happening
in the universe.
And a big change that'shappening is we're all seeing
less traffic to our websitesbecause AI overviews or answers
given inside of LLMs are nowreplacing my need to go to
(22:28):
Google, do a search, and thenclick through to the website to
find the answer.
So we knew like websites have alittle different job that they
need to do today.
And I think expectations of howpeople behave online is also
changing.
So we already see it in Googlesearch.
Though, you know, previouslyGoogle search, it would be
(22:49):
perfectly normal to type in, youknow, top 10 things near me.
But that's not how humansactually talk.
That's just something we learnto do through Google.
And now we're unlearning that.
So in Google, like searchqueries are getting longer.
And they're getting longerbecause people are learning and
because of those AI overviews,you get a better answer when you
(23:14):
put in more words, when you giveit more context.
So it's starting to feel alittle old-fashioned almost to
expect somebody to come to yourwebsite and then have an
experience in the way you tellthem that they have to have the
experience.
I think we're moving to an areawhere we need to focus more on
(23:36):
giving the consumer the keys tothe car.
And so that's what we have donewith the mind trip integration
throughoutAmericaTheBeautiful.com is that
throughout the website, and Ireally love how it's been
integrated on the website aswell.
So consumers have theopportunity to come to this
landing page.
(23:56):
And then so there's contentthroughout it, we're showcasing
big events happening in theUnited States next year.
But there's also promptsfiltered throughout the website
so that rather than clicking on,you know, a little thing in the
corner that says, Don't you wantto chat with us?
Like, no, it's the answer tothat question is always no.
(24:17):
But if you have questionsembedded throughout the site
that pique someone's interestand shows them like the way to
enter into this AI experience,that's proving really
successful.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Sure.
And just to demystify this too,for many of our listeners, and I
always uh my mom uh loves thispodcast, and she only because
she's my mom and she's one ofour biggest fans, and she always
says, What's an OTA?
Or she would say, What would bea DMO?
like that.
So I always try and bring all ofour listeners along the journey.
We've got a global audience in125 countries.
And I just wanted to highlight,because I'm based in Canada,
(24:52):
you're in the US, and some ofthe terms the IPW, just like
that's a great example.
I just want to highlight to ourlisteners what was happening
there and why it's so importantand relevant to what you just
described.
So IPW, fun fact, stands forInternational Pow Wow.
And it is put on by US TravelAssociation, which is a
nonprofit, and brand USA is asponsor of that.
(25:16):
And this uh trade show is reallyit was in Chicago this year in
June in 2025.
It'll be in um it'll be in uhFort Lauderdale.
SPEAKER_01 (25:25):
Fort Lauderdale next year in May.
May next year.
SPEAKER_00 (25:29):
Yeah, and there's thousands of people that come
together, suppliers, media, andthe whole focus is increasing
international visitation to theUnited States.
So the obviously that's whyyou've got to be there and have
to be ready with a new websitebecause this is how you market
it.
And this is where like I'm youknow, I'm fascinated with this
conversation because trying towork out exactly how to do that
in 2025 and going into 2026,tools like this, especially as
(25:53):
um budgets are reduced andthere's various other
challenges, it's all the moreimportant to be able to find
tools like um that AI offers tobe able to be lean, efficient,
and be able to create amazingcontent.
Um so so yeah, so I just want tobring everyone along on the
journey, but I also want to getinto that content creation that
(26:13):
you have done and how brand USAis leveraging that to create
something that is more uhculturally relevant and more
localized and much moreengaging.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat integration with Mind Trip
that obviously you guys gottogether fairly quickly for the
event and how it's beingutilized.
Like you mentioned things likethe chat bots and like so how
are you seeing people interactwith the website now that you
(26:36):
have this new AI-driven content?
SPEAKER_01 (26:38):
So it's super early days.
We're actually we haven't evenstarted paid media on the
America the Beautiful campaignyet.
So so it's still like whoever isstumbling upon it organically,
and we know that organic trafficis not great anymore.
Uh and then I think we have sometraffic that we're driving from
(26:59):
the Visit the USA site that'sgoing there right now.
So it it's a soft launch that isthen giving us the opportunity
to say, great, now we can buildout you know the back end so
that we're able to collectinsights from all of these
chats.
Uh in terms of the contentcreation for the site, the way
that Mind Trip works is thatit's an itinerary builder.
(27:21):
So there are prompts throughoutthe site that will say, Oh, you
know, learn more about arts inthe United States.
And if you click that button,then we have a slider that opens
with the Mind Trip interface,which has a map on one side, and
then it has, you know, a chatwhere window where you're able
to have a conversation with iton the other side.
(27:44):
And that's giving theopportunity, you know, for
people like Mind Trip is pullingfrom our website, from their own
proprietary data sources, uh, inorder to create what the answers
are to user queries and then topopulate a map with an actual
itinerary of what this user'strip could look like to the
(28:05):
United States.
So they that type of content,it's all automatically generated
through Mind Trip's proprietarysystems and their partnership
with OpenAI, which powers thelanguage model inside of
Mindtrip.
Uh and then we have staticcontent on the website as well.
(28:26):
And so much of that, you know,we work on with our partners at
Miles Partnership.
Uh that's one of the servicesthat they provide to us.
And I I was like, oh, I wonderhow Miles, like, where what is
the role of AI in that type ofcontent creation?
I think that's a reallyinteresting like conversation to
(28:47):
have because we should all bevery aware of what our vendors
are doing when it comes to AI.
We may have, as a DMO, we canhave our own AI policies, but if
your vendors don't have similarpolicies, then how are you
enforcing yours with them?
Uh but it, you know, Miles, Ialready work with them very
(29:09):
closely on the AI front, andthey have you know very clear AI
guidelines.
And so they're not using AI towrite content, but in terms of
tweaking, editing, ideation,which is similar to how I use it
with content creation as well.
SPEAKER_00 (29:24):
That's really interesting.
And I do have one more questionon this, and I know we're gonna
we're gonna expand to talk aboutsome of the challenges and even
the ethical considerations ofusing AI.
I want to get your take on thatand where we're headed.
So future trends and innovation.
Uh but on this particularexample with the integration
you've done with Mind Trip, oneof the things I was really keen
to understand is that going backto working on digital
(29:46):
transformation, the key isalways trying to make sure that
you're meeting the customerwhere they are.
So the big shift that happened,of course, was people moved to
social channels.
So you needed to make sure yourbrand was relevant on social
channels and your brand had tobecome conversational, and that
was a big shift.
Shift for organizations to make.
One of the things that you'vecertainly seen as well, as far
as where customers are at today,they are embracing AI for trip
(30:08):
planning on a massive scale.
So, like, no matter how whatstat you look at, whether it's
you know 50 plus or even uhmillennials, like the stats are
at least 50%, if not 80 or 90%of people are using it to plan
their trip.
So they're using AI tools.
What we've not seen yet, whichis still coming, is more people
actually then booking andactually fulfilling the whole
(30:29):
trip.
But certainly for planning.
So if you think, and again, thisis your more your space than
mine, but I know it from workingwith so many tour operators,
putting itineraries together,you're always looking at the
data on your website to see whatitineraries are the most
popular.
And you can only glean so muchinformation, at least from where
quote requests were coming in orbrochure requests and what uh
specific itineraries people werelooking at.
And clearly, when you are adestination management
(30:51):
organization, you are trying topromote the destination and
trying to make sure that youhelp play and assist in
ultimately getting someone tobook that trip.
But really, you're trying toinspire people on the
destination.
And the most important thing isto hook people with uh sample
itineraries.
So I know you know that a lot ofthe DMO websites had these
examples of things you could do,like go explore the the Wild
(31:11):
West or um like road tripsuggestions.
And and this is where a toollike Mind Trip or being able to
have these AI tools that you canactually have a trip planner,
because that's literally whereconsumers are today.
They want to use tools like thisto plan trips.
So it means for me, it seemslike a natural extension to have
the partnership with Mindtripand to be able to have this
technology.
But the specific question I havefor you on this is that how does
(31:34):
it actually impact your decisionmaking?
Because I'm assuming youactually then have access to
more information that will helpinform marketing campaigns and
where you should essentially beplanning, to your point about
you know, paid media is onlyabout to start, but you've
probably got some good learningsalready about how people are
using the tool and whatdestinations are looking at,
which may be different than theones you might have actually
(31:56):
been ready to promote becauseyou're seeing there's an uptick
in interest in certain regionsof the country.
So, yeah, tell us a little bitmore about the data that you get
from this.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Yeah, like that that's the reason to do this,
right?
Like the customer journey isincredibly important, but to be
greedy and selfish, we want thisfirst party data.
And when you see less trafficcoming to websites, and you
know, I think because I camefrom this world of, you know,
like the city DMOs, where you'rereporting to your board on a
(32:25):
regular basis probably what yourwebsite KPIs are.
And probably for the last 18months or two years, every
single month or every singlequarter, the story is a little
bit worse.
And we're getting a little bitless information because we're
seeing less traffic.
And for the traffic that we'reseeing, you know, through GDPR
(32:47):
or other, you know,restrictions, we're getting less
information about the travelersthat are visiting our websites.
So for me, this mind tripintegration helps you reverse
that trend because now you getthis incredibly rich look at not
only all of the chat data.
So what are people literallyasking and talking about in the
(33:10):
chats, that you're able tocollect the POIs and the
destinations that they'retalking about and asking
questions about.
So that like for us, we'rehoping that this becomes a
really rich, you know, abilityto report back to our partners,
you know, who's looking at yourdestination and what questions
do they have.
And I think, you know, what willbe really interesting is looking
(33:32):
at those those mid-funnelquestions.
Uh, and that is a big use casefor AI, to my understanding, is
under it's understandparticularly for comparisons.
And there's not a lot of contentonline that would compare two
hotels or two destinations.
So it it creates this richecosystem where you're able to
(33:55):
go into you can they there's adashboard in the log in the mind
trip system that allows you toread every single chat, look at
these POIs.
We can take this data andactually put it into our own
data warehouse.
And that's what we're in themiddle of doing right now is
cleaning up that information,figuring out what are people
(34:16):
doing with this on the website?
Because what we want tounderstand in the future is are
people staying on the websitelonger because they're engaging
with AI?
Are they reading more pages?
Are they are they having longconversations?
And so learning these new KPIsand what can actually be
(34:36):
connected to a traveler movingdown that funnel towards
actually going on the trip?
Like that's that's a view that'svery hard for a DMO to get.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
Well, that's you you inspired me there.
And that you brought upsomething that I think would be
quite interesting to ourlisteners.
And then I'll come back to someof those other big questions I
want to ask you, and we can dokind of a rapid fire uh list
through them because I'm sureother people will say, how come
you didn't ask Jeanette about uhdata security or ethical use or
uh sustainability?
Those are I mean, I did akeynote on AI at the ETC
(35:06):
conference.
Many of our listeners havewatched this on YouTube, and um
we didn't include the questionsafterwards uh because it went on
for a while and it was liketrying to figure out how much we
would include, but it wasquestions on those topics about
what is the ethical use of AIand what does it mean for the
environment given the cost.
So I do want to hit those, buton this specific topic, I'm
really keen to get your take onthe broader impact and the
(35:27):
vision for AI.
So, and especially on thetraveler journey, as you just
pointed out.
So you started uh highlightinghow it is impacting the customer
journey, like for inspiration toplanning, even that booking and
post-trip engagement, which isobviously the next piece of it,
like the full circle.
And so I genuinely keen to knowhow brand USA, now that you're
taking a leadership position onthis, how do you work with other
(35:48):
destinations across the countryso that they actually can
understand uh and as you take aleadership position with this,
how it's being utilized and whatthey should embrace?
And ultimately, I'm also justkeen to know how you see it
moving towards impacting bookingand post-trip engagement.
For example, like, is there theopportunity for suppliers to
work with you to be one of theoptions that gets listed and
(36:09):
they book with?
I realize that that's achallenging one because you have
to be pretty agnostic when itcomes to who you promote.
Um, but I'd love to see how whatyour thinking is or how you
might approach the booking andpost-trip engagement, because
obviously you have to hand thatover somewhere.
So um, how do you see thatplaying out?
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
It's you know, it's a it's an ongoing conversation,
I think, with all DMOs.
Like it was a huge conversationat New York City.
What you know, do you want toinclude the booking process on
your site or not?
And it's a real challenge, andit's particularly for us because
we work with so many B2B travelpartners that you don't
(36:48):
necessarily want to cut them outof the loop by working with the
consumers directly.
So, like right now, we don'thave actual conversions and
bookings enabled on the mindtrip system on brandusa.com or
on AmericaTheBeautiful.com.
But uh, you know, like at thesame and you know, the the other
(37:10):
side of the coin is everybody islooking at their funding sources
and are there opportunities fornew funding sources?
And that's I it's it's aconstant conversation because
you're able to work with theseplatforms in order to say,
great, we want to route all ofthe the transactions or the
(37:30):
bookings through X platform orthrough X OTA, and that can be
set up.
But then you have to determine,well, how agnostic does your
organization need to be?
And how do you need to keep thethe B2B piece of this in the
loop?
So I I don't have an answer onthat yet.
It's it's something we talkabout weekly.
SPEAKER_00 (37:53):
For sure.
It's a what it's a watch thisspace, and it just kind of
highlights to all of ourlisteners as well.
This is where we find ourselves,and it's like the the next
chapter is only just beingwritten.
And that's genuinely I find soexciting about it because it's,
you know, and and this is whereI think I find I do hear people
say this to me as well, thatthey're not sure where to jump
in, what courses should I take,or how should I embrace this?
(38:13):
Because it's all moving soquickly.
And my answer to that isactually the most important
thing is actually justunderstanding the fundamentals,
whether you take an onlinecourse through like a Harvard or
MIT or Cornell or like just getthe fundamentals if you want to
take something with anaccreditation, or there's a
number of different ways thatyou can educate yourself on
this, but if you need thatvalidation, as well as the that
(38:35):
really getting the fundamentalsand really understanding AI and
specifically generative AI andhow this has all come about and
what it means.
But um, we certainly don't havetime for all of that.
But I do want to I do want tohit you with these questions
that I know our listeners willbe keen to hear from someone in
your position with your level ofexpertise.
So let's just hit three or fourof these real quick.
First one, ethical use of AI.
(38:57):
What would you say to other DMOsthat are facing that question,
particularly around data privacyor even inclusivity, which we
know uh LLMs tend to havesometimes biases?
So there's all these initialchallenges of this technology
that are continually improving.
But in terms of ethical use,what is your response to that?
What advice would you givelisteners?
SPEAKER_01 (39:18):
Uh so I think setting up AI policies for your
organization is critical.
And that is because they, yourstaff needs to hear from
leadership that they're notgoing to get fired or
embarrassed because they wereusing AI.
Uh and they're just it won't gettouched without kind of that
(39:39):
level of permission.
And it's also the role ofleadership to make sure that the
team has like safe, secureresources to use and that they
understand how to use them andhow to be safe when you are
using AI.
So, like that's very key.
I have like a recording of awebinar on our website, and I
(40:00):
can send that link to you if youwant to put it in show notes or
something, where you can likeI've done a webinar about
creating an AI policy.
I am happy to share my AIpolicy, you know, with any of
your listeners who would like toreview it.
And so part of it is thinkingabout the security, the privacy,
and kind of IP use inside of AI.
(40:22):
So, so security, you want tohave training turned off on
whatever system you use.
It probably means you need tohave a paid version of these
tools.
And really you want to have acompany provided version.
Otherwise, if I leave thecompany, I keep my chat GPT
account, which means I keepeverything I uploaded into my
(40:46):
chat GPT account.
And that's a like I don't get tokeep my email after I leave or
access to the server.
So like chat GPT AI tools fallinto that same bucket.
So that's like a reputationallike safety risk that you need
to address.
The privacy piece, you want tomake sure that you aren't
(41:06):
putting PII, personallyidentifiable information like
phone numbers or email addressesinto these tools.
And that's because if theunderlying training isn't turned
off, well, then you're justputting that into the large
language model forever and youcan never get it back out.
And if you can't get it backout, that is a violation of GDPR
(41:28):
because GDPR requires you to beable to remove somebody's data.
So don't do that.
And then the third piece, likethe the integrity of the
information that you put intoChat GPT and other tools.
You need to make sure that youhave rights and permission to
share the things that you areuploading.
You don't want to put inconfidential banking information
(41:52):
for your DMO or privateinformation, even if you have a
secure account.
And so that's part of thetraining that DMOs should
provide to staff so that theyunderstand what are great use
cases and what aren't.
SPEAKER_00 (42:05):
Excellent.
Two, I'm just, I'm just gonnaunderscore those two because
they're so valuable andimportant for everyone to
understand.
The one about data security isby just being aware of what
you're posting and sharing,which is why a lot of companies
have said don't even people aresaying putting their CVs or
resumes or even sharing GoogleAnalytics data.
Like if you have to understand,either turn that ability of
sharing and training the modeloff, or and that's why many
(42:26):
organizations have created theirown LLMs for their own internal
teams to use.
And obviously that's a and thenthe other one that you
underscored, and this wasliterally, I'm so glad to hear
you say this because it was myfirst answer to this room of uh
universities and collegesthroughout the US that have
these alumni programs.
The first thing they said to mewas, I'm not allowed to use AI
in my role because I uh the bestexample was like someone was
(42:47):
like, Yeah, IT, anytime Idownload something, they just
turn it off my computer, likeotter.ai for meetings, and
they're like, you know, youcan't use any of these tools.
So they felt, and so it startswith exactly what you just
outlined, which is puttingtogether a policy for your
company, your business, yourorganization.
Like how what is your AI policy?
And what are you what are yougonna allow?
What's acceptable?
What are the risks and concerns?
(43:07):
And then find partners that willmeet that.
So there will be tools out therethat you can use that will
adhere to.
So those are two great ones I'mgonna uh keep going because I
know our time together islimited, and I want to get all
of your insights.
So um, the other one I wanted toask you was this question about
balancing automation and humantouch.
Since so many in the travelindustry are concerned about AI
and what does it mean for yourroles, that's the case across
(43:28):
many industries.
But where do you see the humantouch that is, you know, we have
travel advisors, we've got uhtour leaders operating, like
you've got, and and a lot ofwhat people travel for is uh
cultural immersion and likeconnecting with other people.
And I think that's where youknow you'll have some of the
naysayers say AI is not going tochange travel, at least in terms
of the experience um in thedestination.
(43:48):
The reality is it's changing alot in a lot of aspects, other
aspects of travel.
But how do you balance when thatquestion you get about
automation and the human touch?
SPEAKER_01 (43:56):
Uh I think it's an opportunity to automate the
stuff that you hate so that youhave more time for that human
touch.
Like, think about writing.
So I don't want to automateLinkedIn posts because for me,
writing is like that is aprocess of me thinking through a
problem that I have.
(44:16):
And so I I write on LinkedInbecause it forces me to solve a
problem.
I can't outsource that or I'mnot solving it in the same way.
But talk to me about an annualreport, something nobody wants
to write and nobody wants toread.
Let AI do it.
So and I think there's versionsof that for all of our jobs.
(44:39):
And I think that's going that'sso that's going to get easier to
figure out how to automate.
And then at the same time,there's going to be a craving
for that human touch.
And I think it's going to begreat for travel.
I think it's going to be greatfor the meetings industry
because just like you know,think of Gen Z and retro
(45:00):
photography, right?
And bringing Polaroid camerasback.
People love that kind of lo-fi,non-AI look.
And in the future, like we'llwe're only going to get that for
something that's in person.
And so I think it's going to bea boon for that type of work.
SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
Well, Jeanette, I have to say, like, I could talk
to you for hours, and I'mlooking forward to having you
back at the AI Summit.
There's so much more that youhave to offer and share on this.
I think this has given everyonea good overview of how and a
great start to this conversationabout destination marketing and
the age of AI and its impacts.
And, you know, I do want to uhunderstand from your point of
view, like the broader visionfor what's ahead.
(45:40):
So I mean, obviously there's alot that excites you about the
future of AI and destinationmarketing.
What are some of the thingsyou'd like to leave our
listeners with that they shouldbe paying attention to?
SPEAKER_01 (45:50):
I I think your listeners should be paying
attention to model contextprotocol, MCP.
Uh I think, I mean, and thisthis is me just making a bet on
this.
So, you know, I crystal ballstuff.
But model context protocol isgoing to give us the opportunity
to imbue our personal AI withfacts, with truth.
(46:14):
And I think that's going to be ahuge game changer in the world
of travel.
And I think it could impact, youknow, the role of DMOs in the
travel space.
Because I see MCP, which is justMCP servers, could contain like
the information that's currentlyon your website about, you know,
points of interest across yourdestination.
(46:36):
But you can also add in what isother information that a
language model might need, mypersonal chat GPT on my phone.
And if I'm planning a trip toNew York City, do I want to rely
on whatever is in the underlyingmodel?
Or do I want to say, hey, pluginto the MCP server that was
created by New York City Tourismto help me plan this trip?
(47:00):
And then that gives you theability to take the facts and
truth and shove it into themodel that you like using.
And I think our work in thefuture might involve putting
together and maintaining thoseservers and those databases.
And I think I I think it's goingto be very powerful.
I I'm not giving a greatdescription of it right now, but
(47:23):
I think it's that that's thething that I would be focusing
on if I wanted if I'm interestedin AI and want to look three
years down the road, I thinkthat's what we're looking at.
SPEAKER_00 (47:33):
Super interesting.
Thank you for sharing that.
Thank you for sharing all ofyour insights.
This has been so valuable andbeneficial.
And I obviously I look forwardto seeing you in person in
Washington.
And I look forward to keeping intouch and continuing these
conversations at our AI summit.
Um, do you want to just leaveeveryone with how best to
connect with you or learn moreabout brand USA?
SPEAKER_01 (47:51):
Uh connect with me on LinkedIn.
So it's just Jeanette Raush,J-A-N-E-T-T-E-R-O-U-S-H on
LinkedIn.
And you can find brand USA atthebrandusa.com.
SPEAKER_00 (48:02):
Amazing.
Thank you again, Jeanette.
Look forward to seeing you againsoon.
SPEAKER_01 (48:04):
Great.
Thank you, Dan.
SPEAKER_00 (48:06):
Thanks so much for joining us on our first episode
of this special three-partseries looking at the impact of
AI on destination marketing.
I hope you enjoyed our initialconversation with Jeanette
Roush, the chief AI officer atBrand USA.
And next week, you're going tohear from Lynn Carpenter, the VP
of Global Marketing at VisitCalifornia.
And as I mentioned at thebeginning, this episode and
(48:29):
series is brought to you inpartnership with our friends
over at Mind Trip, who believethat travel is at its best when
local expertise meets the powerof AI.
And you're going to meetMichelle, the CMO from Mind Trip
on the third episode.
Until next week, make sure youare subscribed on the streaming
platform of your choice.
And be sure to check out oursocial channels to see clips and
highlights from thisconversation on Instagram,
(48:50):
LinkedIn, and YouTube at TravelTrends Podcast.
Have a great week.
We'll speak to you nextThursday.
I think your listeners should be paying
attention to Model ContextProtocol, MCP.
Uh, I think, I mean, this thisis me just making a bet on this,
so you know, I crystal ballstuff.
But model context protocol isgoing to give us the opportunity
to imbue our personal AI withfacts, with truth.
(00:28):
And I think that's going to be ahuge game changer in the world
of travel.
SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Travel Trends.
This is your host, DanChristian, and we're about to
begin a special three-partseries exploring the impact of
AI on destination marketing.
I was really keen to bring thisseries together because we have
not focused on destinationmarketing in our entire history
of travel trends, all sixseasons.
We've never dived into one ofthe most important topics in
(01:02):
travel and specifically how AI,which I think all of our
listeners know, especially giventhat we're running the AI Summit
again this year, and we'reactually going to feature the
guests from this series at ourAI Summit coming up in a few
weeks' time.
So I was very keen to look atthe cross-section of DMOs or
destination managementorganizations as they're known
(01:24):
and the impact of AI.
And we found the perfect partnerto bring this series together
with, and that is our friendsover at Mind Trip who believe
that travel is at its best whenlocal expertise meets the power
of AI.
So we partnered with the team atMind Trip to bring together
these three insightfulconversations with some of the
industry's leading voices.
(01:44):
And in our third episode, at theend, you're going to hear a
bonus discussion with Michelle,who is the CMO of Mindtrip.
And I was the one that wantedMichelle to join the
conversation to share herperspective after you listen to
these three amazing individualsand understand where technology
is taking travel marketing next.
Now, in today's episode, episodeone, we're going to be joined by
(02:07):
Jeanette Roush, who is the chiefAI officer at Brand USA.
I recently had the chance toshare the stage with Jeanette at
the Arrival AI Forum inWashington.
And I can tell you she's one ofthe sharpest minds in this
space.
And you're going to learn thatfor yourself in today's
conversation.
She has a deep insight into howAI is already reshaping the way
(02:28):
that destinations connect withtravelers.
And she's the perfect guest tokick this series off.
But we also have two additionalspecial guests over the next two
weeks as we release theseepisodes each Thursday.
And next Thursday, you're goingto hear from Lynn Carpenter, the
VP of Global Marketing at VisitCalifornia.
And then we're going to bejoined by Storm Tussey, the CMO
(02:49):
at Discover Puerto Rico.
So this is going to be anamazing three-part series.
Make sure you're subscribed onthe streaming platform of your
choice to be notified when newepisodes go live, as each
episode is going to explore howdestination marketers are
adapting in an AI-driven worldand how you can apply these
lessons as the traveler journeykeeps evolving, given these new
(03:10):
planning tools and greaterpersonalization.
So on that note, let's bring inour very first guet, Jeanette
Rausch from Brand USA.
Jeanette, thanks so much forjoining us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:20):
Thank you, Dan.
I'm thrilled to be here.
SPEAKER_00 (03:21):
Well, I'm thrilled that you are our very first
guest on this series inpartnership with Mind Trip to
talk about how AI istransforming the world of
destination marketing and theimpact it's having.
And obviously, your role as thechief AI officer as well as the
senior vice president ofinnovation at Brand USA couldn't
be more relevant to this topic.
(03:42):
So I've got lots of questionsfor you.
But tell all of our listenerswhere you are first.
I think you're in the beautifulcity of New York.
SPEAKER_01 (03:48):
I am.
I'm in Harlem, USA, uh in myliving room.
SPEAKER_00 (03:53):
Ah, fantastic.
That's great.
And I obviously, for all of ourlisteners, you can see clips and
highlights on our socialchannels.
So we'll post a number of clipsand highlights from our
conversation with Jeanette.
But wherever you're listening tothis, obviously the uh the
session itself is is audio, butthe highlights are on our social
channels.
And you can see the really coolbackground she has because I
first said to Jeanette, like,the offices look amazing at
Brand USA.
(04:14):
And she's like, nope, this isthis is my uh my apartment in
Harlem.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
We got we got the pot out on the kitchen counter
back there because I'm aMissouri girl at heart.
SPEAKER_00 (04:24):
That's awesome.
Well, that's what I was gonnaask.
You're not from New York, so no,I'm from Casey.
You have yeah.
Well, tell us a little bit aboutyour background.
Obviously, we know each other,but I want all of our listeners
to understand your yourbackground in the travel
industry and ultimately how youdecided to take on this role and
embrace AI.
SPEAKER_01 (04:41):
Great.
Well, my background is reallynot as a technologist.
I was a theater major.
So I moved to New York Cityafter college because I was
getting my MFA in theateradministration and you know,
fell in love with New York Cityas a part of that.
And the jobs that I got intheater actually ended up being
(05:02):
in theater and tourism.
So I worked for a company, asmall company owned by Mac
Cameron McIntosh that wasacquired by Broadway.com in
2000.
And so the like my role wasmarketing and selling FIT and
group tickets to Broadway showsto international travelers.
(05:23):
Uh so I did that for eightyears.
I then moved deeper into theadvertising world for Broadway.
So spent uh eight years at aBroadway ad agency where I
oversaw the insights team.
So making that connectionbetween what tickets are being
sold and then like for how muchmoney, which part of house, how
(05:44):
is media impacting that?
And again, because I was atheater major, a lot of this was
very self-taught.
Just my team and I, driven bythe curiosity of what what
impacts, you know, actuallyaffect the sales of these
tickets.
Right.
So I then uh in 2018, yes, in2018, I joined New York City
(06:08):
Tourism.
Uh and ultimately I was theirEVP of marketing and digital.
And that evolved into, you know,think back to 2022 with the
onset of Chat GPT.
My brother texted me with a linkto it the day that it came out.
And I just it blew my mind.
(06:29):
I saw that, I was like, becausethere were, you know, there's
lots of tech stuff all the time.
Like I didn't feel this wayabout NFTs or cryptocurrency
necessarily, but I wascompletely obsessed with Chat
GPT in part because I sawimmediately, if it had been
available 10 years earlier whenI was running this insights
(06:51):
team, it would have absolutelychanged the way that I
approached that job.
So all of the stuff that I wastrying to learn how to do, like
I was trying to learn Python sothat it'd be easier to get the
sales figures into Excel.
Well, now I like it would beinstantaneous.
So it's almost out of jealousyand bitterness.
(07:14):
I was like, Well, how can I useit for the job I have today?
Since I can't use it for thisjob that I haven't had in a long
time.
And it turned into all ofDecember 22, just trying to
figure out who who was on top ofthis, who online was writing
about and using this new thing.
And I wasn't finding as muchcontent as I wanted.
(07:37):
So when January came around, Isaid, you know, I'm going to
test this once a day onsomething new at work every
single day.
And then I'm going to shareanything that I learn on
LinkedIn.
And by the end of the month, Ihad a good working knowledge of
how the tool worked at thattime.
And I had uh two speakingopportunities.
(07:58):
And really, that was it.
I just leaned into it reallyhard.
I found it incredibly valuablein my role in New York City.
And so when this job was postedat Brand USA, uh, it felt like a
really natural fit.
SPEAKER_00 (08:12):
Very cool.
Well, I love getting abackstory, especially knowing
that your, you know, your MFAtheater, like this, the world of
storytelling, which becomesincredibly relevant with using
tools like AI to be able tocreate video content.
And like, as you well know, asan expert now in this space,
generative AI, it's an explosionof content.
And a lot of companies aretrying to figure out how to use
(08:32):
it.
And ultimately it comes back towhat is the purpose and what is
it you're trying to create foron behalf of your brand?
So I've got so many questionsfor you, but I think it's also
really cool for our listeners,not only to hear that you know,
you're based in New York andyou've got this deep
understanding of that city,which is, you know, one of the
most visited uh tourism centersin all of the world.
So you have the background withNew York City, you've been there
(08:54):
for nearly 20 years, and then ofcourse you've joined brand USA
in the last year, and there'sbeen so much change of brand
USA.
I mean, from budget changes,geopolitical factors, so many
things going on.
And so your role at this timecouldn't be more relevant to
brand USA.
Obviously, to have someone inyour capacity is really
important.
I think that's where I'm keen tohave this conversation with you
(09:15):
now, and I'm sure a lot ofpeople will be inspired by this
because many other organizationsdon't have someone in a role
like yours, and they're quicklyrealizing that they need to.
So let's talk about that for amoment.
So, with brand USA being one ofthe first tourism boards to
appoint a chief AI officer, whatprompted that move and and how
does that work with also youdoing the innovation side of it?
SPEAKER_01 (09:39):
So the way that it works for brand USA, I think
what prompted Fred to do this ispart of you know, Fred Dixon,
our uh president and CEO, uh wasour president and CEO at New
York City Tourism.
So I knew Fred even back fromhis Nashville days, you know, in
the late 90s.
So we've we've been friends fora long time.
(10:01):
So, you know, clearly he hearsme talk about hey hi at New York
City tourism, he doesn't deletethat from his brain when he goes
to brand USA.
Uh and it's just you it was agreat opportunity for him at a
moment when he gets to definethe role of this organization,
just to acknowledge that AI isgoing to have a huge impact on
(10:24):
the work of tourismprofessionals.
And I think it's going to havean enormous impact on DMOs.
And I couldn't be more gratefulthat he like shares this vision
for what's possible.
And the work that now we'retrying to do at Brand USA with
AI falls into three tranches.
So it's operational excellence,you know, taking advantage of me
(10:48):
being there and having thisknowledge of AI to bringing the
staff like up to speed asindividual contributors, and
then dive into departmentalworkflows.
So really defining how does anorganization that has existed,
you know, since 2011, how do youcome in and rethink it with that
(11:08):
lens?
The second tranche is industryempowerment.
So because as you said, therearen't other DMOs that have this
opportunity to have a chief AIofficer right now.
So how can our learnings helpthe entire industry?
And then the third tranche ishow does this work that we're
doing actually driveinternational inbound tourism?
(11:31):
So, how can AI make the UnitedStates more discoverable and
more bookable, whether it's aB2B, you know, meeting side, uh
leisure side, or if it's aconsumer.
SPEAKER_00 (11:43):
Very interesting.
And obviously, the inspiration,of course, for you, as you were
highlighting when ChatGPT andthe explosion of Gen AI Tools
came about, obviously you werefascinated by this.
And I think one of the thingsthat also stands out to me in
your background and is thatyou're a non-technical founder
in your role.
And I think that's important forour listeners to, and I've
listened to you give a number ofother talks.
(12:03):
You're obviously a greatspeaker, and you know, so I one
of the many reasons I'm thrilledto have you as part of this.
And I know you'll be part of ourAI summit too later this year,
but this because you've got somuch to offer on this topic, but
it's very interesting that youhave a non-technical background.
So I just wanted to go back tothat for a moment to all of our
listeners.
If you could share a little bitmore about your role.
I mean, obviously, you talkedabout the three tranches, so I
(12:24):
think you've covered um uhcertainly the areas that you're
focusing on, but just tounderstand a bit more of like
what the role is for a chief AIofficer, and then specifically
what inspired you to make thattransition.
SPEAKER_01 (12:36):
So the work then comes down to what are the ways
that I can move each of thosethree tranches forward.
So, like literally at brand USA,that would mean sitting down
with our three-person humanresources team, mapping out what
does your workflow look like.
Like if you think about humanresources, and it and this is
(12:59):
really a departmental process, Ithink, when we're looking at AI
implementation, because our HRteam is going to have more in
common with other HR teams andhow they apply AI versus you
know our marketing team.
So it's about sitting down andsaying, What is what is the work
of HR?
(13:20):
Well, you you know, you'rerecruiting new staff, you're
helping to manage uh payroll,you're helping to manage uh
benefits.
Like there's like seven or eightbroad areas, none of which have
anything to do with each other,right?
So it's possible to be great atthree of the areas and you know,
need support on the other fourareas.
(13:41):
So you want to take each ofthose areas and then just
literally look at what are thetasks involved in recruiting?
What are the tasks involved inmanaging retirement benefits and
seeing which of those tasks doyou hate the most and you would
like to find ways to make easierand is can AI help with that
(14:02):
yet?
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
Yeah.
Well, it's interesting aboutyour role, and I think a lot of
our listeners know my backgroundbeing digital technology
marketing, but specifically achief digital officer, which in
many ways, you know, now we havethe chief AI officer.
And so yeah, you're a greatexample of that where you need
to figure out how thistechnology applies across the
business.
So we've been on this 20-yearjourney of digital
transformation ever since thedot-com boom, and that's sort of
(14:23):
when I came into the travelindustry.
So I have that background andunderstanding.
And I am, like you, that muchmore motivated and excited with
this next wave of AI and wherewe're headed.
So, one thing I always want todo with our listeners,
especially as we think aboutdestination marketing and uh
DMOs as they're called, and todemystify that for any of our
listeners, whenever we use thatterm, it's destination
(14:45):
management organization.
Uh, but when we think aboutdestination marketing, one of
the things I'm keen tounderstand from your perspective
is how AI has been utilized sofar, and then where you see us
currently in 2025.
Obviously, we'll get into what'sahead.
Um, but I'd love to hear aboutthe early adoption because,
again, for me, this isfascinating because there's so
(15:07):
many different utilizations ofthis technology and having
someone like you work with allthe different departments.
And interestingly, uh, the headof technology over at TUI, uh,
as I was, he gave one of thebest presentations I thought at
the ITB Berlin conferenceearlier this year.
And he talked about the factthat as an organization, they
are essentially they have theirown LLM internally that everyone
interacts with.
(15:28):
And so they've built their owncustom LLM that has all their
proprietary data.
But then literally their teamworks with different departments
in the business to try andfigure out where the pain points
are and how can we use AI tosolve them.
And I love that because it'svery similar to what I was doing
with digital.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhere you think we've gotten to
with AI in destination marketingand where we stand as of having
(15:51):
this conversation.
SPEAKER_01 (15:52):
Uh so I have a good viewpoint, I think, a good
vantage point on how DMOs areusing AI today, because I'm part
of a group called uh uh if youknow GroupNow out of Copenhagen,
they have a program called AIOpener for Destinations that
I've been an expert advisor forfor the last two years.
(16:12):
And then there's a US cohort ofthat that is run by Miles
Partnership.
So I get to listen to DMOsacross Canada, the United
States, and across Europe once amonth to talk about how they're
like literally talk about howthey're using AI and what are
new ways to apply it and whatare we not thinking about.
(16:35):
And I think this kind of work isso important because open AI,
they don't care how we use it.
They're they're not going tocreate some kind of guide for
DMOs on incorporating AI intoyour work.
So we have to do it.
That's that's on us.
And it's early days still.
So for anybody listening whothinks, oh goodness, I'm I
(16:57):
haven't started anything yet.
I don't have an AI policy for myorganization yet.
We're still using BYO AI orshadow AI.
Like the people who are in thatspot, they're not behind yet.
Like that is that is probablythe vast majority of DMOs right
now.
That it's still individual usecases, the people who find it
(17:21):
interesting, diving in usingtheir own tools, whether they're
free or they're personal paidtools, just to explore what
works and what doesn't work, thethe way that I did when I was in
New York City.
So we're now at the point, and Ithink this has like started
happening throughout 2025, whereDMOs are now starting to put
(17:44):
policies into place so that thestaff feels more comfortable
using AI.
Uh they're starting to providepaid secure tools to their staff
so that anything that you putinto Chat GPT doesn't become
part of the underlying knowledgeof the language model when they
do their next training run.
(18:05):
But in terms of like beyondthat, I think there's you know
certain DMOs that are doingincredible work, like Kara
Franker, who's now with theFlorida Keys, when she was uh at
Estes Park, the entire team theysaid we're going to be AI first,
and they instituted a chat boton their website.
(18:26):
They worked with uh Intentful tocreate a content generation
platform that they were using onthe back end for their blogs and
for their websites.
Like they put systems in place.
They made sure that once a montheverybody was required or once a
week the staff was required togive a report on how they had
used AI throughout the week.
(18:46):
So like she went full in.
I think where most folks are isprobably at that individual use
case place, and they arethinking about how can a
department take advantage ofthat.
So it's it's still very earlydays.
SPEAKER_00 (19:05):
Well, it's interesting.
So saying it, as you justpointed out, it's very early
days, and I think that's wherethere's a lot of hype around AI
and its potential.
And we've been living throughthat hype cycle now for the
better part of 18 months, andthere continues to be headlines
that dominate that I thinkintimidate people and often can
cause more concern and confusionthan it is about realizing
(19:26):
opportunity.
So, one of the things I want tomake sure that we do in our
discussion, as I'm sure youappreciate too, is like actually
giving some real examples of howAI is being utilized.
And that's certainly the themefor our AI summit.
And I know you're part of the AIforum as well, that arrival is
taking place in Washington, D.C.
So, depending on when you'relistening to that, that's
happening on uh September 30th.
And then you have the AI Summituh uh, which is virtual on
(19:50):
October 28th and 29th.
Um, and the focus is going to beshowcasing tools.
So let's talk aboutAmericaThebeautiful.com.
Um, many of our listeners aremultitasking when they're
listening to our podcast andalways ask for mention the
website to make sure I can I gettext messages and emails that
like perfect.
There you go.
America the Beautiful, pull thatup.
And uh I would love for you tojust tell us a little bit about
(20:12):
the purpose of that site and howyou've started to use AI.
I know you guys work with MindTrip and I've seen some of the
integrations, and obviously Iknow that business really well.
I love the team, I love thebusiness, and I think it's
really exciting that they haveexpanded from just B2C and to
B2B and working with destinationmanagement organizations.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat website and then how you've
decided to embrace AI for abetter user experience.
SPEAKER_01 (20:34):
So the website is a way of us expressing a new
campaign online.
So Leah Chandler, our chiefmarketing officer, joined the
organization in March andimmediately set to work with our
agency partners to figure out inthis moment what is the correct
message for the United States touse to for international tourism
(20:58):
promotion.
And as part of that process,when they landed on the America
the Beautiful campaign, if youlook at uh some of our other
websites, our consumer websiteis visitheusa.com.
And it's like kind of at thatpoint, you know, in a website's
life cycle where you're thinkingabout the next thing.
(21:18):
And so the team decided ratherthan try to retrofit Visit the
USA to be a platform to showcasethis new campaign, that they
would create a standalonewebsite to do that.
But this was all determined,yeah, about six weeks maybe
before IPW, which is you knowthe large trade show where we
(21:39):
wanted to launch the campaign.
So that would be a really shortturnaround.
I mean, it was it was anincredibly quick turnaround to
build an entire website.
But it would have been a muchbigger job if like creating all
of that content to fill in thewebsite to make it a really
robust experience.
So the you know, decision wasmade that rather than try to
(22:03):
literally create every singleword of content that would be
needed to bring the campaign tolife, that this would be a good
opportunity to think about theother changes that are happening
in the universe.
And a big change that'shappening is we're all seeing
less traffic to our websitesbecause AI overviews or answers
given inside of LLMs are nowreplacing my need to go to
(22:28):
Google, do a search, and thenclick through to the website to
find the answer.
So we knew like websites have alittle different job that they
need to do today.
And I think expectations of howpeople behave online is also
changing.
So we already see it in Googlesearch.
Though, you know, previouslyGoogle search, it would be
(22:49):
perfectly normal to type in, youknow, top 10 things near me.
But that's not how humansactually talk.
That's just something we learnto do through Google.
And now we're unlearning that.
So in Google, like searchqueries are getting longer.
And they're getting longerbecause people are learning and
because of those AI overviews,you get a better answer when you
(23:14):
put in more words, when you giveit more context.
So it's starting to feel alittle old-fashioned almost to
expect somebody to come to yourwebsite and then have an
experience in the way you tellthem that they have to have the
experience.
I think we're moving to an areawhere we need to focus more on
(23:36):
giving the consumer the keys tothe car.
And so that's what we have donewith the mind trip integration
throughoutAmericaTheBeautiful.com is that
throughout the website, and Ireally love how it's been
integrated on the website aswell.
So consumers have theopportunity to come to this
landing page.
(23:56):
And then so there's contentthroughout it, we're showcasing
big events happening in theUnited States next year.
But there's also promptsfiltered throughout the website
so that rather than clicking on,you know, a little thing in the
corner that says, Don't you wantto chat with us?
Like, no, it's the answer tothat question is always no.
(24:17):
But if you have questionsembedded throughout the site
that pique someone's interestand shows them like the way to
enter into this AI experience,that's proving really
successful.
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Sure.
And just to demystify this too,for many of our listeners, and I
always uh my mom uh loves thispodcast, and she only because
she's my mom and she's one ofour biggest fans, and she always
says, What's an OTA?
Or she would say, What would bea DMO?
like that.
So I always try and bring all ofour listeners along the journey.
We've got a global audience in125 countries.
And I just wanted to highlight,because I'm based in Canada,
(24:52):
you're in the US, and some ofthe terms the IPW, just like
that's a great example.
I just want to highlight to ourlisteners what was happening
there and why it's so importantand relevant to what you just
described.
So IPW, fun fact, stands forInternational Pow Wow.
And it is put on by US TravelAssociation, which is a
nonprofit, and brand USA is asponsor of that.
(25:16):
And this uh trade show is reallyit was in Chicago this year in
June in 2025.
It'll be in um it'll be in uhFort Lauderdale.
SPEAKER_01 (25:25):
Fort Lauderdale next year in May.
May next year.
SPEAKER_00 (25:29):
Yeah, and there's thousands of people that come
together, suppliers, media, andthe whole focus is increasing
international visitation to theUnited States.
So the obviously that's whyyou've got to be there and have
to be ready with a new websitebecause this is how you market
it.
And this is where like I'm youknow, I'm fascinated with this
conversation because trying towork out exactly how to do that
in 2025 and going into 2026,tools like this, especially as
(25:53):
um budgets are reduced andthere's various other
challenges, it's all the moreimportant to be able to find
tools like um that AI offers tobe able to be lean, efficient,
and be able to create amazingcontent.
Um so so yeah, so I just want tobring everyone along on the
journey, but I also want to getinto that content creation that
(26:13):
you have done and how brand USAis leveraging that to create
something that is more uhculturally relevant and more
localized and much moreengaging.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat integration with Mind Trip
that obviously you guys gottogether fairly quickly for the
event and how it's beingutilized.
Like you mentioned things likethe chat bots and like so how
are you seeing people interactwith the website now that you
(26:36):
have this new AI-driven content?
SPEAKER_01 (26:38):
So it's super early days.
We're actually we haven't evenstarted paid media on the
America the Beautiful campaignyet.
So so it's still like whoever isstumbling upon it organically,
and we know that organic trafficis not great anymore.
Uh and then I think we have sometraffic that we're driving from
(26:59):
the Visit the USA site that'sgoing there right now.
So it it's a soft launch that isthen giving us the opportunity
to say, great, now we can buildout you know the back end so
that we're able to collectinsights from all of these
chats.
Uh in terms of the contentcreation for the site, the way
that Mind Trip works is thatit's an itinerary builder.
(27:21):
So there are prompts throughoutthe site that will say, Oh, you
know, learn more about arts inthe United States.
And if you click that button,then we have a slider that opens
with the Mind Trip interface,which has a map on one side, and
then it has, you know, a chatwhere window where you're able
to have a conversation with iton the other side.
(27:44):
And that's giving theopportunity, you know, for
people like Mind Trip is pullingfrom our website, from their own
proprietary data sources, uh, inorder to create what the answers
are to user queries and then topopulate a map with an actual
itinerary of what this user'strip could look like to the
(28:05):
United States.
So they that type of content,it's all automatically generated
through Mind Trip's proprietarysystems and their partnership
with OpenAI, which powers thelanguage model inside of
Mindtrip.
Uh and then we have staticcontent on the website as well.
(28:26):
And so much of that, you know,we work on with our partners at
Miles Partnership.
Uh that's one of the servicesthat they provide to us.
And I I was like, oh, I wonderhow Miles, like, where what is
the role of AI in that type ofcontent creation?
I think that's a reallyinteresting like conversation to
(28:47):
have because we should all bevery aware of what our vendors
are doing when it comes to AI.
We may have, as a DMO, we canhave our own AI policies, but if
your vendors don't have similarpolicies, then how are you
enforcing yours with them?
Uh but it, you know, Miles, Ialready work with them very
(29:09):
closely on the AI front, andthey have you know very clear AI
guidelines.
And so they're not using AI towrite content, but in terms of
tweaking, editing, ideation,which is similar to how I use it
with content creation as well.
SPEAKER_00 (29:24):
That's really interesting.
And I do have one more questionon this, and I know we're gonna
we're gonna expand to talk aboutsome of the challenges and even
the ethical considerations ofusing AI.
I want to get your take on thatand where we're headed.
So future trends and innovation.
Uh but on this particularexample with the integration
you've done with Mind Trip, oneof the things I was really keen
to understand is that going backto working on digital
(29:46):
transformation, the key isalways trying to make sure that
you're meeting the customerwhere they are.
So the big shift that happened,of course, was people moved to
social channels.
So you needed to make sure yourbrand was relevant on social
channels and your brand had tobecome conversational, and that
was a big shift.
Shift for organizations to make.
One of the things that you'vecertainly seen as well, as far
as where customers are at today,they are embracing AI for trip
(30:08):
planning on a massive scale.
So, like, no matter how whatstat you look at, whether it's
you know 50 plus or even uhmillennials, like the stats are
at least 50%, if not 80 or 90%of people are using it to plan
their trip.
So they're using AI tools.
What we've not seen yet, whichis still coming, is more people
actually then booking andactually fulfilling the whole
(30:29):
trip.
But certainly for planning.
So if you think, and again, thisis your more your space than
mine, but I know it from workingwith so many tour operators,
putting itineraries together,you're always looking at the
data on your website to see whatitineraries are the most
popular.
And you can only glean so muchinformation, at least from where
quote requests were coming in orbrochure requests and what uh
specific itineraries people werelooking at.
And clearly, when you are adestination management
(30:51):
organization, you are trying topromote the destination and
trying to make sure that youhelp play and assist in
ultimately getting someone tobook that trip.
But really, you're trying toinspire people on the
destination.
And the most important thing isto hook people with uh sample
itineraries.
So I know you know that a lot ofthe DMO websites had these
examples of things you could do,like go explore the the Wild
(31:11):
West or um like road tripsuggestions.
And and this is where a toollike Mind Trip or being able to
have these AI tools that you canactually have a trip planner,
because that's literally whereconsumers are today.
They want to use tools like thisto plan trips.
So it means for me, it seemslike a natural extension to have
the partnership with Mindtripand to be able to have this
technology.
But the specific question I havefor you on this is that how does
(31:34):
it actually impact your decisionmaking?
Because I'm assuming youactually then have access to
more information that will helpinform marketing campaigns and
where you should essentially beplanning, to your point about
you know, paid media is onlyabout to start, but you've
probably got some good learningsalready about how people are
using the tool and whatdestinations are looking at,
which may be different than theones you might have actually
(31:56):
been ready to promote becauseyou're seeing there's an uptick
in interest in certain regionsof the country.
So, yeah, tell us a little bitmore about the data that you get
from this.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Yeah, like that that's the reason to do this,
right?
Like the customer journey isincredibly important, but to be
greedy and selfish, we want thisfirst party data.
And when you see less trafficcoming to websites, and you
know, I think because I camefrom this world of, you know,
like the city DMOs, where you'rereporting to your board on a
(32:25):
regular basis probably what yourwebsite KPIs are.
And probably for the last 18months or two years, every
single month or every singlequarter, the story is a little
bit worse.
And we're getting a little bitless information because we're
seeing less traffic.
And for the traffic that we'reseeing, you know, through GDPR
(32:47):
or other, you know,restrictions, we're getting less
information about the travelersthat are visiting our websites.
So for me, this mind tripintegration helps you reverse
that trend because now you getthis incredibly rich look at not
only all of the chat data.
So what are people literallyasking and talking about in the
(33:10):
chats, that you're able tocollect the POIs and the
destinations that they'retalking about and asking
questions about.
So that like for us, we'rehoping that this becomes a
really rich, you know, abilityto report back to our partners,
you know, who's looking at yourdestination and what questions
do they have.
And I think, you know, what willbe really interesting is looking
(33:32):
at those those mid-funnelquestions.
Uh, and that is a big use casefor AI, to my understanding, is
under it's understandparticularly for comparisons.
And there's not a lot of contentonline that would compare two
hotels or two destinations.
So it it creates this richecosystem where you're able to
(33:55):
go into you can they there's adashboard in the log in the mind
trip system that allows you toread every single chat, look at
these POIs.
We can take this data andactually put it into our own
data warehouse.
And that's what we're in themiddle of doing right now is
cleaning up that information,figuring out what are people
(34:16):
doing with this on the website?
Because what we want tounderstand in the future is are
people staying on the websitelonger because they're engaging
with AI?
Are they reading more pages?
Are they are they having longconversations?
And so learning these new KPIsand what can actually be
(34:36):
connected to a traveler movingdown that funnel towards
actually going on the trip?
Like that's that's a view that'svery hard for a DMO to get.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
Well, that's you you inspired me there.
And that you brought upsomething that I think would be
quite interesting to ourlisteners.
And then I'll come back to someof those other big questions I
want to ask you, and we can dokind of a rapid fire uh list
through them because I'm sureother people will say, how come
you didn't ask Jeanette about uhdata security or ethical use or
uh sustainability?
Those are I mean, I did akeynote on AI at the ETC
(35:06):
conference.
Many of our listeners havewatched this on YouTube, and um
we didn't include the questionsafterwards uh because it went on
for a while and it was liketrying to figure out how much we
would include, but it wasquestions on those topics about
what is the ethical use of AIand what does it mean for the
environment given the cost.
So I do want to hit those, buton this specific topic, I'm
really keen to get your take onthe broader impact and the
(35:27):
vision for AI.
So, and especially on thetraveler journey, as you just
pointed out.
So you started uh highlightinghow it is impacting the customer
journey, like for inspiration toplanning, even that booking and
post-trip engagement, which isobviously the next piece of it,
like the full circle.
And so I genuinely keen to knowhow brand USA, now that you're
taking a leadership position onthis, how do you work with other
(35:48):
destinations across the countryso that they actually can
understand uh and as you take aleadership position with this,
how it's being utilized and whatthey should embrace?
And ultimately, I'm also justkeen to know how you see it
moving towards impacting bookingand post-trip engagement.
For example, like, is there theopportunity for suppliers to
work with you to be one of theoptions that gets listed and
(36:09):
they book with?
I realize that that's achallenging one because you have
to be pretty agnostic when itcomes to who you promote.
Um, but I'd love to see how whatyour thinking is or how you
might approach the booking andpost-trip engagement, because
obviously you have to hand thatover somewhere.
So um, how do you see thatplaying out?
SPEAKER_01 (36:26):
It's you know, it's a it's an ongoing conversation,
I think, with all DMOs.
Like it was a huge conversationat New York City.
What you know, do you want toinclude the booking process on
your site or not?
And it's a real challenge, andit's particularly for us because
we work with so many B2B travelpartners that you don't
(36:48):
necessarily want to cut them outof the loop by working with the
consumers directly.
So, like right now, we don'thave actual conversions and
bookings enabled on the mindtrip system on brandusa.com or
on AmericaTheBeautiful.com.
But uh, you know, like at thesame and you know, the the other
(37:10):
side of the coin is everybody islooking at their funding sources
and are there opportunities fornew funding sources?
And that's I it's it's aconstant conversation because
you're able to work with theseplatforms in order to say,
great, we want to route all ofthe the transactions or the
(37:30):
bookings through X platform orthrough X OTA, and that can be
set up.
But then you have to determine,well, how agnostic does your
organization need to be?
And how do you need to keep thethe B2B piece of this in the
loop?
So I I don't have an answer onthat yet.
It's it's something we talkabout weekly.
SPEAKER_00 (37:53):
For sure.
It's a what it's a watch thisspace, and it just kind of
highlights to all of ourlisteners as well.
This is where we find ourselves,and it's like the the next
chapter is only just beingwritten.
And that's genuinely I find soexciting about it because it's,
you know, and and this is whereI think I find I do hear people
say this to me as well, thatthey're not sure where to jump
in, what courses should I take,or how should I embrace this?
(38:13):
Because it's all moving soquickly.
And my answer to that isactually the most important
thing is actually justunderstanding the fundamentals,
whether you take an onlinecourse through like a Harvard or
MIT or Cornell or like just getthe fundamentals if you want to
take something with anaccreditation, or there's a
number of different ways thatyou can educate yourself on
this, but if you need thatvalidation, as well as the that
(38:35):
really getting the fundamentalsand really understanding AI and
specifically generative AI andhow this has all come about and
what it means.
But um, we certainly don't havetime for all of that.
But I do want to I do want tohit you with these questions
that I know our listeners willbe keen to hear from someone in
your position with your level ofexpertise.
So let's just hit three or fourof these real quick.
First one, ethical use of AI.
(38:57):
What would you say to other DMOsthat are facing that question,
particularly around data privacyor even inclusivity, which we
know uh LLMs tend to havesometimes biases?
So there's all these initialchallenges of this technology
that are continually improving.
But in terms of ethical use,what is your response to that?
What advice would you givelisteners?
SPEAKER_01 (39:18):
Uh so I think setting up AI policies for your
organization is critical.
And that is because they, yourstaff needs to hear from
leadership that they're notgoing to get fired or
embarrassed because they wereusing AI.
Uh and they're just it won't gettouched without kind of that
(39:39):
level of permission.
And it's also the role ofleadership to make sure that the
team has like safe, secureresources to use and that they
understand how to use them andhow to be safe when you are
using AI.
So, like that's very key.
I have like a recording of awebinar on our website, and I
(40:00):
can send that link to you if youwant to put it in show notes or
something, where you can likeI've done a webinar about
creating an AI policy.
I am happy to share my AIpolicy, you know, with any of
your listeners who would like toreview it.
And so part of it is thinkingabout the security, the privacy,
and kind of IP use inside of AI.
(40:22):
So, so security, you want tohave training turned off on
whatever system you use.
It probably means you need tohave a paid version of these
tools.
And really you want to have acompany provided version.
Otherwise, if I leave thecompany, I keep my chat GPT
account, which means I keepeverything I uploaded into my
(40:46):
chat GPT account.
And that's a like I don't get tokeep my email after I leave or
access to the server.
So like chat GPT AI tools fallinto that same bucket.
So that's like a reputationallike safety risk that you need
to address.
The privacy piece, you want tomake sure that you aren't
(41:06):
putting PII, personallyidentifiable information like
phone numbers or email addressesinto these tools.
And that's because if theunderlying training isn't turned
off, well, then you're justputting that into the large
language model forever and youcan never get it back out.
And if you can't get it backout, that is a violation of GDPR
(41:28):
because GDPR requires you to beable to remove somebody's data.
So don't do that.
And then the third piece, likethe the integrity of the
information that you put intoChat GPT and other tools.
You need to make sure that youhave rights and permission to
share the things that you areuploading.
You don't want to put inconfidential banking information
(41:52):
for your DMO or privateinformation, even if you have a
secure account.
And so that's part of thetraining that DMOs should
provide to staff so that theyunderstand what are great use
cases and what aren't.
SPEAKER_00 (42:05):
Excellent.
Two, I'm just, I'm just gonnaunderscore those two because
they're so valuable andimportant for everyone to
understand.
The one about data security isby just being aware of what
you're posting and sharing,which is why a lot of companies
have said don't even people aresaying putting their CVs or
resumes or even sharing GoogleAnalytics data.
Like if you have to understand,either turn that ability of
sharing and training the modeloff, or and that's why many
(42:26):
organizations have created theirown LLMs for their own internal
teams to use.
And obviously that's a and thenthe other one that you
underscored, and this wasliterally, I'm so glad to hear
you say this because it was myfirst answer to this room of uh
universities and collegesthroughout the US that have
these alumni programs.
The first thing they said to mewas, I'm not allowed to use AI
in my role because I uh the bestexample was like someone was
(42:47):
like, Yeah, IT, anytime Idownload something, they just
turn it off my computer, likeotter.ai for meetings, and
they're like, you know, youcan't use any of these tools.
So they felt, and so it startswith exactly what you just
outlined, which is puttingtogether a policy for your
company, your business, yourorganization.
Like how what is your AI policy?
And what are you what are yougonna allow?
What's acceptable?
What are the risks and concerns?
(43:07):
And then find partners that willmeet that.
So there will be tools out therethat you can use that will
adhere to.
So those are two great ones I'mgonna uh keep going because I
know our time together islimited, and I want to get all
of your insights.
So um, the other one I wanted toask you was this question about
balancing automation and humantouch.
Since so many in the travelindustry are concerned about AI
and what does it mean for yourroles, that's the case across
(43:28):
many industries.
But where do you see the humantouch that is, you know, we have
travel advisors, we've got uhtour leaders operating, like
you've got, and and a lot ofwhat people travel for is uh
cultural immersion and likeconnecting with other people.
And I think that's where youknow you'll have some of the
naysayers say AI is not going tochange travel, at least in terms
of the experience um in thedestination.
(43:48):
The reality is it's changing alot in a lot of aspects, other
aspects of travel.
But how do you balance when thatquestion you get about
automation and the human touch?
SPEAKER_01 (43:56):
Uh I think it's an opportunity to automate the
stuff that you hate so that youhave more time for that human
touch.
Like, think about writing.
So I don't want to automateLinkedIn posts because for me,
writing is like that is aprocess of me thinking through a
problem that I have.
(44:16):
And so I I write on LinkedInbecause it forces me to solve a
problem.
I can't outsource that or I'mnot solving it in the same way.
But talk to me about an annualreport, something nobody wants
to write and nobody wants toread.
Let AI do it.
So and I think there's versionsof that for all of our jobs.
(44:39):
And I think that's going that'sso that's going to get easier to
figure out how to automate.
And then at the same time,there's going to be a craving
for that human touch.
And I think it's going to begreat for travel.
I think it's going to be greatfor the meetings industry
because just like you know,think of Gen Z and retro
(45:00):
photography, right?
And bringing Polaroid camerasback.
People love that kind of lo-fi,non-AI look.
And in the future, like we'llwe're only going to get that for
something that's in person.
And so I think it's going to bea boon for that type of work.
SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
Well, Jeanette, I have to say, like, I could talk
to you for hours, and I'mlooking forward to having you
back at the AI Summit.
There's so much more that youhave to offer and share on this.
I think this has given everyonea good overview of how and a
great start to this conversationabout destination marketing and
the age of AI and its impacts.
And, you know, I do want to uhunderstand from your point of
view, like the broader visionfor what's ahead.
(45:40):
So I mean, obviously there's alot that excites you about the
future of AI and destinationmarketing.
What are some of the thingsyou'd like to leave our
listeners with that they shouldbe paying attention to?
SPEAKER_01 (45:50):
I I think your listeners should be paying
attention to model contextprotocol, MCP.
Uh I think, I mean, and thisthis is me just making a bet on
this.
So, you know, I crystal ballstuff.
But model context protocol isgoing to give us the opportunity
to imbue our personal AI withfacts, with truth.
(46:14):
And I think that's going to be ahuge game changer in the world
of travel.
And I think it could impact, youknow, the role of DMOs in the
travel space.
Because I see MCP, which is justMCP servers, could contain like
the information that's currentlyon your website about, you know,
points of interest across yourdestination.
(46:36):
But you can also add in what isother information that a
language model might need, mypersonal chat GPT on my phone.
And if I'm planning a trip toNew York City, do I want to rely
on whatever is in the underlyingmodel?
Or do I want to say, hey, pluginto the MCP server that was
created by New York City Tourismto help me plan this trip?
(47:00):
And then that gives you theability to take the facts and
truth and shove it into themodel that you like using.
And I think our work in thefuture might involve putting
together and maintaining thoseservers and those databases.
And I think I I think it's goingto be very powerful.
I I'm not giving a greatdescription of it right now, but
(47:23):
I think it's that that's thething that I would be focusing
on if I wanted if I'm interestedin AI and want to look three
years down the road, I thinkthat's what we're looking at.
SPEAKER_00 (47:33):
Super interesting.
Thank you for sharing that.
Thank you for sharing all ofyour insights.
This has been so valuable andbeneficial.
And I obviously I look forwardto seeing you in person in
Washington.
And I look forward to keeping intouch and continuing these
conversations at our AI summit.
Um, do you want to just leaveeveryone with how best to
connect with you or learn moreabout brand USA?
SPEAKER_01 (47:51):
Uh connect with me on LinkedIn.
So it's just Jeanette Raush,J-A-N-E-T-T-E-R-O-U-S-H on
LinkedIn.
And you can find brand USA atthebrandusa.com.
SPEAKER_00 (48:02):
Amazing.
Thank you again, Jeanette.
Look forward to seeing you againsoon.
SPEAKER_01 (48:04):
Great.
Thank you, Dan.
SPEAKER_00 (48:06):
Thanks so much for joining us on our first episode
of this special three-partseries looking at the impact of
AI on destination marketing.
I hope you enjoyed our initialconversation with Jeanette
Roush, the chief AI officer atBrand USA.
And next week, you're going tohear from Lynn Carpenter, the VP
of Global Marketing at VisitCalifornia.
And as I mentioned at thebeginning, this episode and
(48:29):
series is brought to you inpartnership with our friends
over at Mind Trip, who believethat travel is at its best when
local expertise meets the powerof AI.
And you're going to meetMichelle, the CMO from Mind Trip
on the third episode.
Until next week, make sure youare subscribed on the streaming
platform of your choice.
And be sure to check out oursocial channels to see clips and
highlights from thisconversation on Instagram,
(48:50):
LinkedIn, and YouTube at TravelTrends Podcast.
Have a great week.
We'll speak to you nextThursday.
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