Communicating Travel’s Value in Uncertain Times

Air traffic control in crisis. Cities under civil unrest. The monumental cost of … well, everything.

Whether you’re deciding where to go on summer vacation or where to book your company’s next event, navigating travel plans can seem like an overwhelming task after reading the latest news headlines. Is it really worth the expense, hassle and even potential safety risks to take that trip overseas or to attend that conference across the country?

For anyone working in the travel and tourism industry, we know the answer is a resounding “yes.” Taking that trip will be worth the investment, because it will pay dividends in experiences and create opportunities for business and economic development. But as communicators, how do we fight against current conditions where fear and uncertainty may cause more potential travelers to stay home? Quite simply, we fight negative emotions with positive ones.

Travel has the power to inspire, to connect and to shift mindsets. Moreover, it holds value as an economic driver for communities. Losing tourism revenue doesn’t just impact airlines and hotels—it also impacts the local shops, restaurants and government coffers that rely on revenue from visitor spending to be able to provide for their residents.

That’s why communicating the emotional impact of travel has become more important than ever. Developing a communications strategy that touches hearts, as well as minds, is crucial for every travel brand and destination’s success.

Securing earned media coverage for travel and tourism topics today is challenging as well. Many lifestyle publications are gutting both staffers and freelancers in favor of AI-generated content. In fact, travel features were among some of the first stories to be published without an actual writer involved. Remember in 2023 when Buzzfeed rolled out travel guides written by “Buzzy,” the cute name it came up with as a stand-in for “this was compiled by AI?” The results were widely mocked for being generic, cookie-cutter content that could have been applied to any destination—just by swapping out the proper names—with a few factual errors thrown in to boot. As travel and hospitality communicators, we have to ask ourselves: “Is this content actually going to break down barriers for travelers and inspire action?” Engaging the writers, editors and producers who can tell a story and motivate people to travel is still a necessity, especially in an environment where there are fewer and fewer of them.

Finding the right stories to connect with and attract potential travelers also needs to be delivered on the right channel. From content strategy to amplification planning, the algorithms of both social media environments and the real world around us all seem to be saying the same thing: it’s just easier these days to stay home! Without the right voice and the right message, the combination of anxiety and fear may lead potential travelers to give into what’s easiest (and the least expensive).

What the right voice and right message is, of course, will vary from destination to destination and business to business. The U.S. Travel Association saw a 14% drop in international visitors in March 2025 as compared to 2024. If you’re a destination or business that usually sees a lot of international visitors, it can be easy to see this statistic and panic. But what if we use this data point to help us pivot rather than panic? Maybe the time is right to lean into drive markets, the ones right in our own backyard, versus investing in long-haul visitors like those from overseas.

Maybe it’s time to revisit some message mapping to see if your proof points are still the strongest ones to create the emotional impact with the audience you’re trying to reach. A 2025 Travel Trends report from The Points Guy noted that Gen Z and millennial travelers are particularly keen to spend less on things like flights and spend more on experiences when they travel. The latest ad campaign from Airbnb similarly touts the appeal of experiences over destinations.

Earlier this year, a report from Vrbo, Hotels.com and Expedia declared “JOMO” (Joy of Missing Out) as one of the top travel trends for 2025. But “missing out” doesn’t have to mean not traveling. As the HuffPost put it, JOMO is about “redefining what brings you happiness and appreciating what’s actually important.” Maybe it’s time to create messaging about how your destination, hotel or restaurant offers an intimate experience that takes visitors away from the distractions of everyday life.

You can see this idea come to life in the recent campaign “Get a Sense of New Brunswick,” created by NATIONAL Public Relations, Time & Space and Explore NB. (AVENIR GLOBAL is the parent company of Padilla, NATIONAL and Time & Space.) It features the sights, sounds and scents of New Brunswick and the natural beauty of Canada’s East Coast. Inspired by a walk on the ocean floor of the Bay of Fundy at low tide, the campaign targeted Ontarians and Quebecers specifically, by offering them an experience closer to home, yet still feels far away from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives.

This campaign captures the two main elements for success when communicating the value of travel: an emotion-driven message paired with good data. Knowing who our target audiences are and how and where they spend their time is critical to finding the right channels through which to reach them. And this is where any brand’s communications strategy needs to be in lock step with the paid media team to make sure that the PESO model is functioning at its best to be able to extend quality messaging to the audiences most ready to receive it. After all, what good is that incredible feature story or social media post if the right folks aren’t seeing it?

So yes, times may be uncertain and changing daily. That simply means we have to communicate the value of travel and tourism with unprecedented enthusiasm, honesty and authenticity, reminding potential travelers of how a new experience can create moments of connection and inspiration, as well as memories that last a lifetime. Whether it’s across the globe or simply across a county line, now more than ever, it’s that real-world connection that makes all the difference.

This article was first published on O'Dwyers.