Preparing Louisiana Tourism for AI at the 2024 LTA Leadership Forum
Updated: Aug 13
In May 2024, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at the Louisiana Travel Association Leadership Forum at Golden Nugget Lake Charles.
The conversation brought tourism and marketing professionals together to explore a question that was quickly becoming impossible for our industry to ignore:
How is artificial intelligence changing tourism marketing and how can destination professionals prepare for what comes next?
The discussion included plenty of thoughtful questions, honest perspectives, and practical examples. One takeaway rose above everything else: organizations do not need to have every answer about AI today, but they do need to start getting organized.
The 2024 forum gathered more than 70 Louisiana travel-industry leaders for a day and a half of education focused on innovative leadership, creativity, new technologies, and strategies for strengthening destinations across the state.
Event at a Glance
Event: 2024 Louisiana Travel Association Leadership Forum
Date: May 2024
Location: Golden Nugget Lake Charles in Lake Charles, Louisiana
Caroline’s role: Panel moderator
Topic: Artificial intelligence in tourism and marketing
Audience: Tourism executives, destination marketers, and travel-industry leaders
Hosted by: Louisiana Travel Association
Caroline led a panel of tourism and marketing professionals in a discussion about how AI was affecting the industry, with audience questions and an emphasis on preparing organizations before the technology advanced even further.
Why AI Matters to the Tourism Industry
Tourism marketing depends on communication.
Destination organizations are constantly creating and managing:
Website content
Social media posts
Visitor guides
Event information
Email campaigns
Advertising
Media pitches
Partner resources
Travel itineraries
Answers to visitor questions
Artificial intelligence has the potential to change how much of that work is researched, organized, drafted, personalized, and distributed.
It can help tourism professionals move more efficiently, identify useful patterns, develop new ideas, and repurpose information across platforms. It is also changing how travelers discover destinations and ask questions during the planning process.
But using AI well requires more than opening a tool and typing a prompt.
A destination still needs accurate information, a recognizable voice, strong local knowledge, clear goals, and people who understand what makes the community worth visiting.
Getting Organized Before Getting Automated
One of the clearest takeaways from the panel was that getting organized now is one of the best ways tourism teams can prepare for AI.
Before an organization can use new technology effectively, it needs to understand the information, systems, and responsibilities it already has.
For a tourism or destination-marketing team, getting organized might include:
Reviewing existing website and campaign content
Identifying outdated or conflicting information
Creating a central library of approved photos, videos, and brand resources
Documenting brand voice and messaging standards
Clarifying who reviews and approves public-facing information
Organizing frequently asked visitor questions
Establishing repeatable content and reporting workflows
Determining what information should never be entered into a public AI platform
AI can make an organized process faster. It can also make a disorganized process produce more confusion at a much greater speed.
The goal is not to automate everything simply because the option exists. The goal is to understand where technology can meaningfully support the people already doing the work.
AI Cannot Replace Local Expertise
Tourism professionals know their destinations in ways a general technology platform cannot.
They understand:
Which restaurants locals genuinely recommend
How festivals and traditions are experienced
What visitors commonly misunderstand
Which businesses can accommodate specific needs
How seasons, weather, and local schedules affect travel
What makes one neighborhood or community distinct from another
Which stories deserve more attention
That knowledge is one of a destination organization’s greatest assets.
AI can help organize or communicate local expertise, but it should not be treated as a replacement for it. Tourism marketing is strongest when technology supports accurate, first-hand knowledge rather than flattening every destination into the same collection of generic travel phrases.
No Louisiana community wants to be described as merely “a hidden gem with something for everyone.” We have far more interesting stories than that.
Keeping People at the Center of Tourism Marketing
Travel is ultimately a human experience.
People travel to eat something they cannot find at home, hear a story from someone who lived it, participate in a tradition, meet new people, and experience a place with its own character.
That means tourism professionals must keep people at the center of the work, even as the technology around that work changes.
AI may help a team brainstorm, outline, summarize, analyze, or organize. The final communication still needs human judgment.
Tourism teams must ask:
Is this information accurate?
Does this sound like our destination?
Is the recommendation genuinely helpful?
Are we representing the community responsibly?
Is there a real person who can verify this?
Does this make someone want to experience the place—or does it sound like every other destination online?
Efficiency matters, but trust matters more.
The Value of an Open Industry Conversation
One of my favorite parts of moderating a panel is helping turn a broad topic into a conversation people can participate in.
Artificial intelligence can create excitement, uncertainty, curiosity, and plenty of opinions—all at the same time. A panel format gives professionals an opportunity to hear different perspectives, ask honest questions, and consider how emerging technology applies to their own organizations.
The goal was not to convince every tourism team to use the same tools in the same way.
It was to help industry leaders begin asking better questions and think intentionally about what their teams, content, and communities would need moving forward.
Three Takeaways for Tourism Leaders
1. Organize your information first
AI is only as useful as the information and direction behind it.
Review existing content, document important processes, establish approved sources, and make it easier for team members to find reliable information.
2. Use AI to support expertise—not replace it
Technology can assist with repetitive or time-consuming parts of the work, but local knowledge, creativity, context, and judgment remain essential.
Let the tool support the story. Do not let the tool invent the destination.
3. Create clear standards for responsible use
Teams should understand which tools are approved, what information is appropriate to share, who reviews generated content, and how accuracy will be checked before anything is published.
Starting those conversations now is much easier than creating rules after a problem occurs.
Moderating Conversations That Move an Industry Forward
The Louisiana Travel Association Leadership Forum gave tourism professionals from across the state a chance to exchange ideas, explore emerging technologies, and consider strategies for strengthening their destinations.
For me, moderating the AI panel was an opportunity to combine several parts of my professional experience: tourism marketing, social media, live media, public speaking, and a genuine curiosity about how communication continues to evolve.
The technology may change quickly, but thoughtful questions, accurate storytelling, and meaningful human connection will continue to matter.
Bring This Conversation to Your Audience
Caroline Marcello is available to moderate panels and lead presentations on:
Artificial intelligence and the future of communication
Tourism and destination marketing
Human-centered marketing
Social media strategy
Content creation
Digital storytelling
Building confidence on camera
Making professional conversations more engaging and approachable
Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, Caroline is available for conferences, leadership forums, association events, workshops, and panel discussions throughout Louisiana, the Gulf South, and beyond.
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