New York, NY – Leah Woolford, Founder and CEO of USDM.net and a recognized  leader in digital travel marketing, was the featured luncheon presenter at the recent E-Tourism Summit in New York City. In a live video interview via Skype, conducted by E-Tourism Summit host Jake Steinman, Woolford addressed the attendees on the Internet’s impact on Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and rapidly evolving online trends.

“The Internet has caused DMOs to greatly expand their role from information providers to sellers of travel. Today, they have to compete with commercial websites and online travel agencies (OTAs) that sell travel,” Woolford said.

“The biggest challenge for DMOs today is relevancy to consumers,” Woolford said. “So many competitors are trying to step up and take the DMO position–from OTAs to privately held website companies that are using the destination name as a web address. This is a serious problem and will become more difficult to manage if DMOs cannot educate their boards about funding for technology and online marketing in a way that they can compete.”

The biggest online trends for DMOs relate to radical changes in advertising, marketing, and public relations, Woolford said. Search engines and social marketing have changed how consumers are influenced by traditional offline advertising and public relations.

“For DMOs, advertising as we have known it is dead,” Woolford said. “Consumers go to the Internet for entertainment, travel planning and eCommerce transactions. It’s all online, and the online space gets bigger and bigger with the untethered web now pervasive on smart phones.”

The next big thing for online travel marketing?

“Mobile marketing... without a doubt," Woolford said. "This is, and will be, a big game changer as consumers embrace and expect mobile internet connectivity guided by location positioning, faster than any previous technology advancement. It’s an exciting new world for advertising and marketing with endless possibilities and opportunities for DMOs and all travel marketers."

For more information, visit www.USDM.net.

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