They Ghosted You. Stop Sending Flowers.

You ever get ghosted? Like, really ghosted?

They were showing up, engaging, traveling, spending time with you, and then suddenly, nothing. No comments. No conversions. No one wants to work with you. The room is quiet, and the vibes are off.

Welcome to what it feels like when a destination loses trust.

And what do most of us do in tourism? We try to fix it with a campaign.

Cue the moody B-roll, the drone shots, the emotionally manipulative piano music, and a carefully worded slogan about resilience, or belonging, or how “this is home.”

We say things like “Let’s remind people who we are.” Let’s not. Let’s become someone worth trusting again.

Because here’s what nobody wants to admit: Trust isn’t something you can rebrand your way back into. It’s not a message problem. It’s a relationship problem.

And I get it. Sometimes the broken trust isn’t even your fault. You inherited this role. You came in with fresh energy. You didn’t cause the fallout, the displacement, the political mess, the bad press.

But now it’s yours.

And if we’re being honest, most of the time we don’t even know where to begin. We just know someone doesn’t like us anymore and we want that feeling to go away. Fast.

So we do what we’ve always done. We tell a story. We build a campaign. We send digital flowers to the people who’ve already blocked our number.

But here’s what I’ve learned:

1. You can’t earn trust by asking for it.

That’s not how trust works. It’s not something you request, it’s something you demonstrate. Over and over. Without being asked. Without expecting applause. Without publishing a press release every time you act like a decent partner.

2. The people who left are not always wrong.

Sometimes they’re frustrated for good reason. Maybe you prioritized visitors over residents. Maybe you ran a shiny campaign while local businesses struggled. Maybe the voices that warned you were dismissed as “too political.” It hurts, but those departures are often data.

3. Fixing trust takes longer than a fiscal year.

I know that’s inconvenient. Your board wants numbers. Your CEO wants a win. Your community wants answers. But rebuilding trust means you might have to sit in the discomfort of not being liked while you actually make things better.

4. The real work is rarely sexy.

It’s showing up to city meetings when nobody’s watching. It’s answering DMs that don’t benefit you. It’s not interrupting when someone tells you why they stopped believing in your brand.

5. Sometimes you’re just not their person anymore.

And that’s okay. Not everyone is your audience. Not every group wants what you're selling, no matter how good the packaging. You can do the work, own your role, and still be the ex they never call back. That’s not failure. That’s clarity.

We throw the word authenticity around a lot in tourism. But you know what’s authentic?

Saying: We got it wrong. We see what you’re saying now. We’re not asking you to trust us today. We’re just showing up differently and letting our actions speak next time.

That’s what rebuilding trust really sounds like.

So if you’re feeling that sting...if the numbers are down and the locals are loud and nothing seems to land anymore...I want you to know this:

You're not alone. You’re not ruined. You’re just out of sync with your people.

And that’s not fixed with another highlight reel. It’s fixed with humility. Consistency. Time. Maybe even therapy.

But not flowers. They ghosted you. Stop sending flowers.

Show up differently instead.

🖤Jenn