Skift Take
Tourism pledges are commonly thought of as a way to improve visitor behavior. But done right, they can also potentially help attract a desirable kind of traveler: one who cares about the environment as much as locals.
It wasn’t long after the concept of overtourism entered the mainstream that the tourism pledge followed. From Iceland and New Zealand to Big Sur and Hawaii, these consumer-facing campaigns seem ubiquitous all of a sudden, asking travelers to adhere as much to common decency (don’t urinate in public) as to environmental consciousness (don’t disturb fragile habitats).
In a sense, they're the perfect manifestation of the current moment: when destination marketing organizations are in the business of managing the impact of tourists as much as making sure they continue to turn up. It might be easy to dismiss them as a PR stunt, but done right, these pledges can also help attract the kinds of conscientious, high-value travelers that so many destinations are keen to host. As a marketing tactic, it’s admittedly a subtle one. But in the age of overtourism, that might be a good thing.
That’s what Bend, Oregon, and a slew of other mountain towns in the American West are hoping to achieve with their Pledge for the Wild campaign, which launches this week. Unlike other pledges where a traveler signs on an online petition-like form, a participant pledges through a text-to-donate channel, which directs a donation to an environmental nonprofit tied to a local issue. Travelers will interact with or see the campaign through multiple touchpoints, including out-of-home ads, r
