Uncertainty comes in many forms.
A global pandemic
Domestic inflation.
A natural disaster.
Each one affects travel behavior differently, and each one calls for a different marketing response. But whether you’re facing recession worries or wildfire evacuations, one principle always applies: stay flexible.
This isn’t just about reacting in the moment. It’s about setting your organization up to be nimble before you need to be. Read on to learn how DMOs can approach strategy, messaging and media investments during turbulent times and still find ways to connect with travelers.
Set Yourself Up to Flex, Not Just React
Flexibility gets tossed around a lot. But real flexibility isn’t about reacting quickly when the unexpected happens. It’s about building a strategy that’s ready to bend before you need it to.
The most successful teams plan in layers. They structure their year with built-in checkpoints every 30, 60 or 90 days. That way, if something shifts—a new travel advisory, a market slowdown, even a political headline—you’re not scrambling. You’re adjusting.
Planning this way also creates room to be bold. You can start conservatively and scale up if the opportunity’s right. That’s a lot easier than reversing a media plan that’s already spent its money.
This is also where digital comes in. A heavier digital mix means faster pivots. It’s easier to swap creative, shift geos or test new messages on the fly. So when you’re building for flexibility, you’re not just making a marketing plan, you’re designing a system that can take a curve without skidding.
The key isn’t to be reactive. It’s to be ready.
What Travel Looks Like When the World Feels Wobbly
When uncertainty hits, people don’t stop traveling. But how they travel and how they make decisions definitely changes.
One of the clearest shifts during economic uncertainty is proximity. Travelers look closer to home. They take shorter trips. They stay within their comfort zone. That makes drive markets your best bet. Think twice before using budget to chase risky or unproven audiences unless you’ve got the data to back it up.
But proximity isn’t the only pivot. Value rises to the top of the decision-making list. That doesn’t always mean offering deep discounts. It could look like:
- Promoting midweek stays where prices drop
- Highlighting bundled or all-inclusive options
- Showcasing free or low-cost experiences that still feel rich
And beyond practical value, people are craving emotional value. Experiences over things. Connection over itinerary. Travelers are looking for something that inspires or puts them at ease, especially during tough news cycles or personal stress. Think restorative travel: nature, wellness, self-guided road trips, slow travel. These aren’t just nice-to-haves. They’re what people are actively seeking out.
If you can show how your destination delivers on value, both economic and emotional, you’ll stay relevant no matter what the headlines are saying.
Striking the Right Tone When Travel Feels Risky
Messaging during uncertain times walks a fine line. You don’t want to ignore what’s happening in the world, but you also don’t want to sound alarmist, or worse, tone-deaf.
That’s why authenticity matters more than ever. The more real your message feels, the more likely it is to resonate. That could mean:
- Using local voices instead of corporate copy
- Highlighting off-the-beaten-path spots that let visitors feel like insiders
- Letting your destination’s personality show up, even if it’s quirky or understated
If your audience is asking “Is it safe?” or “Can I afford it?”, answer that question honestly, in language that feels like a person talking to a person. During the pandemic, that meant highlighting flexibility and safety protocols. During a recession, it might mean emphasizing smart timing, like midweek travel or packages that stretch a budget. It’s all about leading with what the traveler needs to know and feel, not necessarily what the destination wants to sell.
And when things are tough, like during a natural disaster or major political shift, don’t go quiet. Empathy and transparency go a long way. Acknowledge the moment. Share how the community is responding. Don’t spin. Don’t oversell. Just be real.
The best messaging during crisis or uncertainty doesn’t try to distract. It helps people make informed, confident decisions and reminds them why your destination is still worth discovering.
Lean Budgets, Strong Funnels
During times of uncertainty, marketing budgets tend to shrink. But even with less to spend, the goal doesn’t change: reach the right people, at the right moment, with the right message.
What does change is how sharply every dollar has to work.
That’s where efficiency comes in, not as a buzzword, but as a framework. Start by making sure you’re not leaning too hard on just one part of the funnel. If you push everything to bottom-funnel tactics like search and retargeting, you might drive conversions in the short term. But without ongoing awareness, you risk drying up your pipeline.
Think of search as your anchor at the bottom that continues to deliver performance. Programmatic display and YouTube ads can help build awareness at the top, keeping your destination visible while travelers are still dreaming. In the middle, paid social and non-branded search help nurture intent, bridging the gap between inspiration and action.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of storytelling. Travelers crave authentic content now more than ever. That’s where native and editorial placements shine. Partnering with the right publisher can give your message more than visibility through deeper context, voice and trust.
In short, don’t just trim your media plan. Refocus it. Find the mix for paid media that maintains momentum now and keeps brand equity strong for later.
Watch What Matters (and Watch It Often)
Your core KPIs probably won’t change during uncertain times. What should change is how and how often you monitor them.
In volatile moments, a quarterly or even monthly check-in won’t cut it. You need tighter feedback loops. Weekly performance reviews can help you spot shifts quickly, like a policy change, a price spike or a regional disruption that’s starting to affect sentiment. Catching those signals early gives you time to adjust messaging, timing or spend before the impact hits your bookings.
Booking windows are especially telling. During the pandemic, we saw the traditional 30- to 60-day window all but disappear, replaced by a spike in last-minute (15-day) and far-out (90-day) bookings. That kind of polarization reflected how people were feeling: uncertain but hopeful. Right now, things are a bit more stable, but those windows can shift again in a flash. And when they do, they change how and when you place media.
Search interest is another leading signal. If Google Trends and search volume show a drop in travel-related queries, it could mean planning is slowing down. If ad engagement stays high but conversions drop, it may point to economic hesitation with people dreaming, but not quite ready to book. Social listening can offer even earlier insight, surfacing subtle shifts in mood or messaging friction before the numbers catch up. Booking and visitation data still matter too, even if they lag. Together, these pieces tell a more well-rounded story.
The point isn’t to wait for perfect clarity. It’s to spot patterns, ask questions and act early while you still have room to move.
Move Fast, Learn Faster
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that agility isn’t optional, and innovation can’t just be a buzzword. When conditions shift fast, so should your creative.
Dynamic ad creative makes that possible. Instead of building one perfect message and hoping it lands, you can load multiple variations (midweek travel offers, flexible cancellation reminders, dream-worthy imagery, etc.) and let multivariate testing figure out what works for each audience. It’s faster, more adaptive and lets you learn in real time.
This also helps prevent a common trap: leading with the message you like instead of the one your audience actually needs. Different travelers respond to different cues. A family planner might click for savings or flexibility. A solo traveler might want inspiration. With dynamic creative, you don’t have to guess which one to lead with. You can test and respond.
AI has also started to play a helpful role here. Tools that surface real-time search queries, trending questions or emerging destination interests can help you shape content people are already looking for. It’s a way to stay relevant, not reactive.
Innovation doesn’t have to mean building something brand new. Sometimes it’s just using smarter tools to get closer to the traveler, faster.
The Best Time to Get Nimble Is Before You Need To
If there’s one takeaway from all of this, it’s not just “be flexible.” It’s set yourself up to be.
Flexibility doesn’t happen by accident. It has to be baked into your strategy, your budget, your team structure, even your agency conversations.
That might mean building a digital-heavy media plan so you can pivot faster. It might mean setting conservative annual budgets with planned opportunities to scale. It might mean creating content that can be adapted for different audiences or sentiment shifts without starting from scratch. It might mean bolstering organic content if it’s not the right time to spend money on paid media.
It definitely means checking in more often on your data, on your assumptions and on travelers’ mindsets.
Most of all, it means treating “uncertain times” not as the exception, but as part of the new normal. Because when you’re set up to flex, you don’t just survive the next disruption, you meet it with momentum.Noble Studios works with DMOs to turn uncertainty into brand opportunity. Let’s build something agile and impactful together.
