Who says we need “professionals” to do destination marketing? Jens Thraenhart asked the question that most old school tourpro’s (heh, heh) would rather not answer, “The value of DMOs?” As I told Joe, “Until someone comes along and makes us irrelevant.”

New York Traveler is a great example of “amateur” destination marketing. I only mean amateur in the sense that she doesn’t work for us. Mrs. Mecomber is a genuine Empire State travel blogger. I’m talking real content based on experience and knowledge. Today she points to the Educational Tour Marm and her efforts to plan New York school trip. Oh, then she gives some travel suggestions and plug for the Adirondacks. Yikes, she even lists this place as a resource! I have to admit, I’m much better at talking than making Base Camp the end-all travel resource for the Adirondacks. If anyone has questions about travel in the Adirondacks, shoot me a note anytime!

You see, when travelers start blogging about their travels, giving advice comes almost second-nature. Especially if you specialize in travel and blogging about a particular place. Aggregating experience and knowledge, who is better positioned than an official DMO to do this? We have to silo the conversation, create it, manage it, and revel in it. In my dream world, we would have featured bloggers in every aspect of Adirondack travel and recreation. Each publishing relevant content, participating in their blogosphere niche, helping to create the folksonomy, and ready to respond to inquiries with their expertise. Sort of a virtual DMO crew. All under the guidance of some über TourPro Overlord. Sounds a bit frightful, eh?

I’ll bet there are more than a few places around this state that would love to have a visit and write-up from Mrs. Mecomber. After all, we all know bloggers are easier to deal with than travel writers.