“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.” – Eric Shinseki Navigating disruption isn’t easy, especially without effective tracking, measurement and reporting tools in place. “Destination brand” can be defined as the collective sum of shared stories about a destination. Big Data now allows destinations to easily track, measure and report meaningful digital metrics about destination brand, marketing and storytelling efficacy. Having a transparent, honest lens into these digital metrics helps organizations focus on performance-based initiatives and also builds digital skills capacity. Assisting key demand generators to deploy digital operations dashboards is a tactic with measurable results. Zac Gribble is an entrepreneur at heart with several business ventures brought to fruition since graduating from business school in 1996. His current mission as Director of Media Technology with Regional Tourism Organization Four Inc. (‘RTO4′) is to help build an entrepreneurial mindset within the world of destination marketing and management that focuses on experimentation, agility and adaptability. As the tourism industry continues to navigate the massive technological disruption from the web, social media, mobile, wearables and proximity awareness, Zac envisions a brave new world ripe with opportunity for tourism organizations willing to shift towards adaptive KPIs and a culture of innovation.

1. DIGITAL OPERATIONS DASHBOARDS
growing digital sophistication for tourism operators

2. - Tom Goodwin, TechTarget
The Internet is the most powerful
mechanism we can imagine to match
perfectly individuals that need
something, and people with something
to offer.

4. - John Wanamaker, 1838 –1922
Half the money I spend on advertising is
wasted; the trouble is I don't know which
half.

7. Social media is less expensive than
advertising, with more impact.
And it’s measurable – you can see what
is or isn’t working.
- RTO4 tourism operator

9. “We dabbled in Google Analytics and the back
ends of Facebook and Twitter, but not much
more than ‘How many Likes this month?’”
“Now, we see last Thursday’s Facebook post
was shared 20 times and our sales in a
particular city location jumped that afternoon.”
- RTO4 tourism operator

11. It was a revelation to see how our
online sales flowed. Measurement
helps us make better decisions.
- RTO4 tourism operator

13. DIGITAL OPERATIONS DASHBOARDS

14. Assumption
My website is optimized

15. Myth
Mobile devices are not
relevant to my business

16. Assumption
I’m in the visitor’s guide…
I’m easy to find!

17. Myth
My target market
doesn’t use _________
[social media | Google | tablets | TripAdvisor]

18. Device Type

19. Social Media Reach Age Groups

20. Website Referral Source

22. Page Load Time
(UX/Hygiene)

23. Mobile Bounce Rate
(UX/Hygiene)

24. Viral Reach
(Storytelling Efficacy)

25. Social-to-Web
(Storytelling
Efficacy/Hygiene)

26. Social Conversions
(Digital Operations)

28. Find and delegate staff to direct your
online presence: website maintenance,
online sales and social media. Create a
new position or change a job description,
but somebody must take it seriously.
- RTO4 tourism operator

29. Every attraction and festival should get
on this. The trick is to see the potential
now, and then take the plunge.
- RTO4 tourism operator