Selling What Your City Isn't Known For: How Orlando Got Its DMO Behind Local Culture

This episode is sponsored by Aloja AI, dynamic pricing software to earn tour operators more revenue, automatically. Every city has the thing it's famous for, and the DMO's marketing follows the crowds there. If your tours sit outside that, you're competing for attention with the biggest names in town, and a busy DMO rarely goes looking for you. Orlando, a city the world knows for its theme parks, is about as clear a case as there is. Thali Sugisawa leads cultural tourism at United Arts of Central Florida, the local arts agency that set out to get the city's DMO talking about local arts and culture alongside the parks. Her conclusion is that a DMO gets behind you when you show up with something it can use right away, tied to goals it has already written down, and then keep showing up. Thali learned that by building the partnership from nothing, tours included, and testing what visitors actually buy. Listen to this one if your tours aren't what your city is known for and you've wondered how to get your DMO on your side. You'll come away knowing how to approach them and what to bring. Resources: Arts in Orlando