It’s no longer a point of discussion — there’s an obvious necessity for tourism to create legacy value improvements and assets for the places and people that choose to play host to visitors.

As we re-organize and rationalize our destination organizations to serve citizens and visitors alike, we need to take a very careful look at all our activities and determine if they are indeed serving our communities and creating legacy value for our citizens.

Sustainability and regeneration initiatives are by definition activities that leave a lasting positive impact on places and people. They are also an opportunity for DMOs to build meaningful partnerships outside the cohort of the usual suspects. If we want to talk about legacy value in sustainability and regeneration, then we want to talk to Jessica Vandy and Alexis Kurelek.

Both Vandy and Kurelek are sustainability vanguards and work globally on a host of projects. Both work with the Global Destination Sustainability Movement, which works with municipalities, national and regional destination management organizations, and convention bureaus to co-create their tourism and events strategies, benchmark, and improve their sustainability performance; they also work with #Meet4Impact, a non-profit organization that aims to change how we plan, measure, and talk about the events industry.

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