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Background
An Organizational Shift
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (Los Angeles Tourism) is the official nonprofit tourism promotion organization for Los Angeles with a mission to improve the quality of life for all Angelenos through the economic and community benefits of tourism. This mission statement, however, is relatively new to the organization, having been updated in 2022.
Like many other tourism organizations, Los Angeles Tourism sought to reevaluate its business model amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspired by Destinations International’s DestinationNEXT Futures Study, Los Angeles Tourism made the decision to migrate away from the traditional role of a destination marketing organization (DMO) towards a destination stewardship approach.
The three concepts that influenced this decision can be simplified as follows:
- What’s good for residents will always be good for visitors
- Destination development has to revolve around economic, social and environmental sustainability
- Long-term success is contingent on developing a shared vision for the future
This new perspective helped Los Angeles Tourism develop its “why,” prioritizing community-centric decision-making.
Alignment with Global Best Practices
In 2023, Los Angeles Tourism became a member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and participated in the GSTC Destination Sustainability Assessment. The assessment process brought together various stakeholders, including tourism industry members, community leaders and government officials, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of sustainability efforts across Los Angeles and identify opportunities for improvement. Because the GSTC criteria are directly associated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Los Angeles Tourism was able to ensure that its approach aligned with global best practices.
Joining the Global Stewardship Innovation Lab
In December of 2023, President & CEO of Los Angeles Tourism, Adam Burke was invited to participate in Destination Wayfinder’s Global Stewardship Innovation Lab—a group of thought leaders, researchers and stewardship practitioners across the tourism industry who began the process of developing a shared definition and best-practice framework for destination stewardship. The Innovation Lab offered an opportunity to not only bring enlightened disruption to the industry but contribute to efforts that would encourage national adoption of the SDGs as a framework for destination stewardship and sustainable tourism.
Opportunity & Outcomes
Multi-Level Engagement & Collaboration
In addition to the GSTC assessment, Los Angeles Tourism engages with various sustainable tourism initiatives at local, state and national levels.
- Local-Level Engagement: Los Angeles Tourism established the Community Advisory Board, composed of 30 diverse community members who help inform tourism-related programs and initiatives
- State-Level Engagement: Visit California invested in the development of twelve regional strategic plans with a strong focus on resilience and sustainability
- National-Level Engagement: Adam Burke serves on the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board appointed by the Secretary of Commerce
With multi-level engagement, Los Angeles Tourism was challenged with distilling three major datasets while navigating stakeholder relations and implementing change as a destination stewardship organization.
Leveraging Destination Wayfinder
In early 2024, Los Angeles Tourism joined the Destination Wayfinder global community as one of the first prototype destinations. By October, the Destination Wayfinder framework for destination stewardship had been fully recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council as a set of standards equivalent to the GSTC Destination Criteria 2.0, underscoring the tool’s ability to help destinations integrate the GSTC Criteria into both strategic planning and operational practices.
Destination Wayfinder’s features, including its multi-user environment and continuous improvement pathway, enhance collaboration and communication while the platform’s visual framework helps clarify responsibilities and streamline deliverables across teams and stakeholders. With Destination Wayfinder, Los Angeles Tourism is able to distill each of the datasets within a central platform—aligned with the GSTC Criteria and United Nation SDGs, making insights and next steps more actionable and digestible.
“Destination Wayfinder has been an invaluable resource for us at Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. It provides a clear visual framework for our GSTC assessment recommendations, enabling us to understand our organizational strengths in destination stewardship and prioritize strategic actions across our team and community. This recognition of Destination Wayfinder’s alignment with GSTC standards further reinforces its utility as we pursue our sustainability goals.”
Adam Burke, President & CEO of Los Angeles Tourism.
While still in the early stages of its ongoing stewardship journey, Los Angeles Tourism is leveraging Destination Wayfinder to enhance collaboration with key stakeholder groups, improve planning and operations, and ultimately, pursue its mission to improve the quality of life for all Angelenos through the economic and community benefits of tourism.