How Destination Marketing Can Attract Responsible Travelers and Support Local Conservation

In an era of increasing environmental and cultural pressure on popular travel destinations, cultivating responsible travelers isn’t just a nice idea—it’s a necessity. But how can destination marketing effectively engage visitors in conservation goals without sounding preachy or punitive?

The answer lies in a layered, partnership-driven approach to destination messaging—one that builds from the heart of the community outward. At the core is a strong local stewardship ethos, surrounded by strategic partners, and propelled outward through compelling, values-based storytelling.

Here are some top lessons from destination marketing campaigns that have attracted responsible travelers around the world.

Cape Perpetua Collaborative conservation and education tide pool tour on the Oregon Coast. Photo by Mel Barbour

Lesson 1: Sustainability Starts with Stakeholders

At the center of any meaningful conservation effort is the local community. To foster lasting change, destinations must identify and involve stakeholders from the very beginning. These are the people who already know the land, understand its challenges, and care deeply about its future. Their voices lend authenticity, and their leadership builds long-term trust and buy-in.

When stakeholders help shape the message—not just endorse it—it reflects real values and lived experiences. That authenticity not only resonates with visitors but also strengthens local ownership of sustainability goals.

FINGER LAKES REGIONAL TOURISM COUNCIL

The Finger Lakes Regional Tourism Council (FLRTC) covers a 14-county region packed with outdoor adventure, small-town charm, and natural beauty, but its sheer size posed a challenge. Without a unified message or strategy, tourism remained uneven, with some areas under-visited and others struggling with seasonal peaks. To create cohesion and encourage visitation across both geography and time, GLP began by listening.

Rather than impose a top-down rebranding strategy, we started with a collaborative survey of each of the 14 counties’ DMOs. We then spoke with over 100 local tourism leaders, small business owners, outdoor outfitters, and community organizations. These conversations helped surface what sustainability already looked like on the ground—what was working, where there were gaps, and how locals defined success. Rather than arrive with a pre-built narrative, the team listened first, using those insights to shape storylines that reflected both the diversity of the region and its shared values.

This collaborative, iterative process informed not just the campaign videos GLP produced but also our broader messaging strategy, ensuring that the campaign stayed grounded in local priorities from beginning to end.

Photos: Mel Barbour

Lesson 2: Partner with Stewardship Experts

With a foundation of local champions in place, destinations can strengthen their stewardship messaging by forming strategic partnerships with organizations that bring expertise, credibility, or reach.

These partnerships give destinations a tested playbook for promoting responsible behavior, but just as importantly, they offer a bridge between local values and vetted best practices. They ensure the message is consistent, effective, and adaptable across different platforms and visitor profiles.

LEAVE NO TRACE

Leave No Trace is one of the most widely respected organizations in this space. As a global non-profit committed to protecting the outdoors through science, research, and education, Leave No Trace offers clear, practical guidelines known as the 7 Principles. These principles help individuals minimize their impact, whether they're hiking, camping, or simply enjoying nature close to home. Their work bridges the gap between awareness and action, empowering people to enjoy the outdoors in ways that sustain it for generations to come.

GLP Films helped forge a partnership between Leave No Trace and FLRTC, anchoring conservation messaging in one of the most ecologically and recreationally rich regions of New York State. Through this alliance, 14 counties across the Finger Lakes region adopted Leave No Trace’s framework, creating one of the largest contiguous areas of Leave No Trace partners in the state. This unified front not only elevated the region’s sustainability credentials but also gave visitors clear, consistent cues on how to explore responsibly.

LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS

Global organizations aren’t the only option, and fruitful partnerships don’t have to be expensive. A local university, science center, or conservation group can offer research insights, field knowledge, or even just a few key messages that enhance destination storytelling. What’s important is uniting voices around a common vision, creating a consistent, informed message that visitors can follow. Whether through formal partnerships or grassroots collaborations, aligning with trusted local or scientific sources adds integrity to the message and helps visitors feel they’re part of something meaningful.

Lesson 3: Invite Visitors to Be Partners, Not Problems

Too often, sustainability messaging focuses on correcting visitor behavior through rules and restrictions. But when travelers feel like they’re being scolded or treated as part of the problem, they’re less likely to engage meaningfully.

On the other hand, many destinations are wary of putting boundaries front and center in their messaging. They worry that talking about sustainability—or setting expectations for visitor behavior—might make travelers feel restricted or unwelcome. But the opposite is often true. 

Today’s values-driven travelers aren’t just looking for places to visit; they’re looking for places to respect and connect with. So an effective approach is to treat visitors as potential allies—people who care, want to do the right thing, and just need to be shown how.  When destinations reframe sustainability as an invitation to be part of something meaningful, they don’t alienate visitors—they empower them. Messaging that communicates care, community values, and a shared responsibility creates a deeper sense of belonging, turning tourists into true partners in preservation.

VISIT SEDONA

Faced with an overwhelming influx of visitors during the pandemic, Sedona, Arizona, was at a tipping point: its natural beauty was being loved to death, its community was feeling the strain, and its tourism-dependent economy needed a reset. Instead of scolding visitors for poor behavior, Sedona reframed the narrative. Through a video storytelling campaign rooted in community voices, the message became an invitation, not to consume, but to care.

GLP helped Visit Sedona pivot toward destination management by spotlighting local stories across three key themes: outdoor recreation, spiritual transformation, and the arts. These authentic, values-driven narratives were not about listing rules but showing travelers how they could play a positive role in the place they were visiting. Delivered through direct booking touchpoints like tour confirmations and gear rentals, the videos reached visitors when they were most open to influence, during the planning phase. The result: a more unified tourism ecosystem where locals and visitors alike became collaborators in preserving what makes Sedona special.

Lesson 4: Communicate Sustainability Initiatives

One of the biggest missed opportunities in destination stewardship is silence. Many destinations are doing meaningful work behind the scenes—whether it’s protecting ecosystems, promoting local food systems, or managing visitor impact—but hesitate to talk about it. Some worry their efforts aren’t “perfect” or fear scrutiny; others see sustainability as an internal or operational concern, rather than a story to share.

But today’s travelers care. The responsible traveler you want to attract is actively looking for destinations that align with their values. Transparency isn’t about being flawless—it’s about being genuine and showing progress. Even modest sustainability efforts can spark interest and build trust when communicated effectively. And communicating your work can unify partners and elevate local pride, making stewardship a shared identity, not just a checkbox.

AZORES

The Azores—a volcanic archipelago in the North Atlantic—had begun to see a rise in international visitors. As tourism grew, so did the need to manage it responsibly. In response, the Azores DMO made a bold commitment to sustainability, partnering with EarthCheck—the world’s leading sustainable tourism benchmarking organization—to become the first archipelago to receive certification. After working to make their tourism model reflect their values, the Azores wanted to attract visitors who shared their ethos.

To support that goal, GLP created a video storytelling campaign rooted in the Azores' sustainability model. We focused on lesser-known islands like Pico and São Jorge, filming intentionally during the off-season to showcase year-round experiences and promote geographic and seasonal dispersal. The content spotlighted local food and wine producers, nature-based adventures, and the region’s long-standing culture of resilience and environmental stewardship. By aligning their messaging with their conservation goals, the Azores positioned themselves as a global leader in sustainable tourism, inviting travelers not just to visit but to participate in preserving the very qualities that make the destination extraordinary.

So, How Can Destination Marketing Attract Responsible Travelers?

Stewardship isn’t just a policy; it’s a story. And destinations that tell that story—by shaping the narrative with stakeholder voices, and amplifying their message with partnership, positivity, and honesty—will do more than just attract responsible visitors—they’ll inspire them.