At its 2026 Marketing and Communications Summit in Cleveland, Destinations International unveiled a new Destination Reputation Study alongside the Tripadvisor Trendcast 2026 — giving DMO marketing teams a fresh data set on how perception directly shapes event attendance, attendee feedback, and the willingness of meeting planners to recommend a city.

The headline finding: destination reputation now carries more weight in event-related decision making than it did in previous research cycles. According to the accompanying research announcement, 80% of meeting planners reconsider destinations based on safety, politics, or societal concerns. When attendees hold outdated or negative perceptions of a host city, it measurably suppresses both attendance and post-event satisfaction scores — even when the program, venue, and logistics are strong.

The research lands at a moment when DMOs are under pressure to justify marketing investment with outcomes that go beyond awareness. It reinforces what many CVBs have argued anecdotally for years: reputation work is not a soft branding exercise. It is a measurable input into the sales funnel for meetings, conventions, and leisure travel alike.

What this means for DMOs

Three practical implications for destination marketing teams:

Reputation monitoring belongs in the core measurement stack. If sentiment materially moves attendance and NPS, DMOs need ongoing listening infrastructure — not an annual perception survey that sits in a drawer.
Myth-correction campaigns have ROI. The study suggests that proactively addressing outdated perceptions (safety narratives, infrastructure assumptions, price anchors) can lift event outcomes. That is a defensible line item in a sales and marketing budget.
Alignment with the sales team matters more than ever. Reputation insights need to flow directly to the convention sales team so they can arm meeting planners with the evidence that pre-empts objections.

The full Destination Reputation Study is available through Destinations International’s website.

Photo by Steve DiMatteo on Unsplash