Dan Peltier

Tourism boards have their critics who say destinations don't drive as much innovation as other travel sectors. But destination marketers are increasingly proving their naysayers wrong, and in some cases they are changing the tech landscape in their communities.

Tourism boards are stuck between a rock and a hard place on a lot of issues and particularly with Airbnb. Destination marketers understand that many travelers prefer Airbnb while their hotel partners definitely do not. We'll be watching to see how both sides attempt to bridge the gap in 2018.

Many tourism boards now have entire teams dedicated to China and WeChat. It's a very complex task for foreigners to get the content right, but it appears as though WeChat parent Tencent is trying to make the platform more accessible for tourism boards.

You can't really blame people who live in and around a popular city for wanting to enjoy the attractions that make it special. Their taxes give them that right, after all. It needs to be factored into overtourism calculations that locals sometimes outnumber other visitors at tourism attractions.

Financial analysts and other travel industry watchers often listen to the words of CEOs to hear what direction they're taking their companies. But, increasingly, CMOs at many major travel brands are dealing with ground-level, consumer-facing marketing and strategy that impact the company and customers on a daily basis.

Barr is touting his experience in China and his company's long presence there as an advantage in understanding global consumer trends. But is that enough to raise the company's cool factor in western markets?

Japan Tourism really thinks that U.S. travelers are turning Japanese, or at least their travel wish lists are. The tourism board is more building off the momentum it already has in the U.S. But most U.S. travelers don't speak Japanese, and that will continue to be a sticking point for the country's tourism.

Is this only the beginning of the beginning of online travel? With a recent downbeat set of results from online travel agencies, it's a question that's hotly debated these days.

U.S. tour operators and travel agents are betting that it will be business as usual, or perhaps even better, as the new Cuba restrictions take effect and individual people-to-people visas get sidelined. But many also find it ironic that the White House announced these changes while Trump was courting leaders of Asian countries that have poor human rights records.

Travel warnings and alerts are important to many travelers, and any country that cares about tourism tries to avoid getting on such a list. But the U.S. State Department's list is often selective and political, and isn't an exhaustive list of places where travelers could face danger.