Carylann Assante has led the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA) and the SYTA Youth Foundation for more than 15 years, and her own story starts in the back of a 1960s station wagon, leaning on a cooler with a road atlas, funded by her mom's "travel bank account." In this episode, she and Stephen (friends for about 15 years themselves) talk about how travel shapes young people, what has and hasn't changed in running an association, and two ideas the tourism industry has been slow to act on.

In this episode:

• Why Carylann has a favorite experience, not a favorite place (and what Buc-ee's has to do with it)
• Why the small local trip matters as much as the big one, and how SYTA is reframing "the first trip"
• What hasn't changed about associations in 15 years, and the 10 to 20% engagement number every membership leader will recognize
• How peer-to-peer learning gives introverts a way to contribute without taking the stage
• Finding her "why" as a leader who contributes rather than dominates, and the lesson she took from longtime ASAE CEO John Graham
• Two ideas for the industry: bringing travel programs to technical and community colleges, and helping young people put travel experience on a resume that AI screening tools will actually recognize

Learn more about SYTA and the SYTA Youth Foundation at syta.org, or email info@syta.org.

Business Class is brought to you by Learn Tourism, the nonprofit academy - harnessing the power of science, business psychology and adult education to advance the tourism industry and build sustainable economies. Learn how to engage your community, win over stakeholders and get more visitors at learntourism.org.

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Some visitors arrive in Greenland asking where the train station is. (There are no roads between towns.) Linda Kleist, the new CEO of Visit Greenland, treats moments like that as feedback. In this conversation, she explains why Greenland measures success by community support and not just visitor numbers, and how one idea, "our everyday, your adventure," is helping Greenlanders see their own lives through visitors' eyes.

In this episode:

* Why Greenland is far more than ice and snow, from South Greenland's sheep and trees to the months-long polar night up north
* What Linda learned about local pride on a trip to the Faroe Islands
* "Our everyday, your adventure": turning everyday life into a destination brand
* Social license to operate, and why visitor counts aren't the whole story
* Her advice for newcomers to destination development: start with the community, then work outward
* Young Greenlanders are building tourism businesses around what they already love

Plan your visit at visitgreenland.com.

Business Class is a podcast by Learn Tourism, featuring conversations with destination and tourism leaders from around the industry. Learn more at learntourism.org.

Business Class is brought to you by Learn Tourism, the nonprofit academy - harnessing the power of science, business psychology and adult education to advance the tourism industry and build sustainable economies. Learn how to engage your community, win over stakeholders and get more visitors at learntourism.org.

Support the show

Two years ago, wildfire evacuation orders emptied Big Bear Lake of 6,000 residents with nowhere to go. What Travis Scott and his team did next — coordinating free emergency housing through Airbnb.org — became the model the City of Los Angeles used during last year's wildfires.

In this episode, Travis Scott, CEO of Visit Big Bear, joins us to talk about what it looks like when a destination organization shows up as a true community partner, not just a marketing shop. We cover his path from the wine industry into destination management, his philosophy of building a destination brand with the community rather than handing it to them, how those relationships evolved into a real disaster response, and his candid take on where AI is helping — and hurting — the craft of tourism storytelling.

In this episode:

• How Travis went from running wineries for 20 years to leading destination organizations
• Why he believes DMOs should give communities a voice in the brand, not just deliver one to them
• The story behind Visit Big Bear's wildfire evacuation housing program — and how it became a template for LA
• What stewardship means beyond a "leave no trace" sign
• AI's real impact on direct bookings, and the case for AI as a catalyst for better storytelling, not a replacement for it
• What Travis is learning next (hint: it involves a pilot's license)

Business Class is a podcast by Learn Tourism, featuring conversations with destination and tourism leaders from around the industry.

Learn more about Learn Tourism at learntourism.org.

Business Class is brought to you by Learn Tourism, the nonprofit academy - harnessing the power of science, business psychology and adult education to advance the tourism industry and build sustainable economies. Learn how to engage your community, win over stakeholders and get more visitors at learntourism.org.

Support the show