Dan Peltier

We've seen a lot of tried-and-true marketing tactics from destinations this year, but we also saw some newer, smarter strategies on how to use the masses of content and opinions available these days, thanks to social media.

When it comes to destinations post-disaster, bad publicity can usually be flipped on its head and retooled to portray an encouraging comeback story. Puerto Rico's tourism industry is on its way to such a story, not letting disaster images and videos derail its progress.

The world is a brighter place because of travelers and millions of them increasingly want to spend their vacations doing good rather than showing off their new bathing suits or selfie sticks.

Hyatt and other hotels are increasingly in the business of opening their doors to all who need a place to sleep, as long as they pack a peaceful and inclusive attitude with them.

The trick to getting more U.S. businesses to invest in mobile payments will be to convince them that more demand will also soon come from U.S. travelers, who are still largely cash and card-carrying consumers for now.

The newspaper business continues to go through an evolution in the digital era, all while the travel industry is thriving and demand grows for tours and activities. City Tours probably won't be the biggest revenue generator for the Times anytime soon, but it could do a lot to make the publisher cooler and more relevant.

Much of Florida's beaches remain pristine and algae-free and other parts of the state are seeing a boost as tourists relocate their vacations. This year's red tide is the latest wake-up call to climate change that the state's tourism industry has had to grapple with.

Given how attitudes over tourism have been boiling over across Europe's hotspots in recent years, some of the findings in this report, such as residents not wanting tourism numbers to be capped, are very surprising.

Influencers are still getting a chunk of some travel brands' marketing budgets, but the amount of pull they have over travelers' trip decisions is questionable. As the form matures, influencers and brands are still figuring out the rules of the road.

The global heat map for tours and activities continues to burn bright this year as big players like TUI scoop up small players like Musement for back-end technology that will help them get more personalized products to travelers.