What If Your Visitor Had a Seat at the Board Table?

Imagine this: It’s board meeting day. The agenda’s packed—tax talk, stakeholder updates, maybe a debate over a new mural or a downtown activation. The usual voices are present. The usual topics, too.

But what if one chair wasn’t filled by a stakeholder, an executive, or a city official?

What if it was taken by someone who just visited your destination last weekend?

They don’t own a business here. They didn’t grow up here. They came because something caught their eye. A photo. A story. A feeling.

Now they’re sitting at the table listening to all the talk. What would they hear?

Would they recognize themselves in your mission? Would they feel like the reason you do what you do? Or would they feel like an afterthought?

Let’s be honest: Most boards are built to protect the past.

They’re made up of people who love their destination deeply, but haven’t experienced it like a visitor in years. They know how things used to work. They have connections. And history.

But nostalgia isn’t a roadmap. And politics won’t help you see what’s coming next.

Because visitors have changed. The world has changed. And if your leadership still sounds the same as it did five years ago… You’re not leading. You’re looping.

The best strategy doesn’t come from defending your turf.

It comes from listening.

Listening to the people who are choosing your destination with their time, money, and trust. Listening to what frustrates them. What delights them. What’s missing.

That’s how you stay relevant. Not with more buzzwords. But with more curiosity.

Ask better questions:

• Who is our visitor becoming?

• Where are we getting in their way?

• What would it look like to really put them first?

This isn’t about erasing stakeholder voices.

It’s about balancing them.

It’s about creating space for the people we’re supposedly here to serve. Not just in our campaigns, but in our decisions. Our boards. Our conversations.

Because the traveler should never be an outsider in their own experience.

And if we’re unwilling to give them a seat at the table, we shouldn’t be surprised when they decide to go elsewhere.