Destination Sunday: Why? And The Flip Side of More Tourists = Better Tourism
The origin story + the first flip side truth bomb
Why “Destination Sunday”?
In 1992, I moved to a strip of jungle and beach in Mexico almost nobody cared about. Today, you know it as the Riviera Maya.
Back then it was 60 km of Caribbean coast known mostly to campers, hippies, and dreamers. Playa del Carmen was a sleepy fishing village. Akumal? A community of 11 people and a small village of Mayans who worked at a hotel. Soliman Bay? Nothing more than a coconut road and two shells of old concrete buildings.
I even lived around the corner from a house Vincent Welnick of the Grateful Dead owned in Akumal. And yes, I still tell the story about how I touched Bobby Weir’s butt at a surprise Dead performance in our little community center. Sorry Bob.
The internet was brand new in ’96. While most people were still figuring out how to send an email, I launched one of the first online vacation rental booking companies and travel services for the region. Without a phoneline, I might add.
That business helped put names like Akumal and Soliman Bay on the map.
By 2016, I was recognized as one of the influencers in shaping a destination that went from hammocks to high-rises.
Here’s what I learned: destinations are not built on marketing tricks. They are built on stories, culture, people and nature.
That’s why I’m starting Destination Sunday. Every week, I’ll share one flip side idea about destination marketing, grounded in decades of boots-in-the-sand experience and sharpened with today’s smartest tools.
Because if there’s one truth from watching the Riviera Maya transform, it’s this:
Destinations aren’t built on ads. They’re built on perspective.
The Flip Side of “More Tourists = Better Tourism”
The industry mantra? “More heads in beds.”
Sounds fine… until you’re knee-deep in:
Traffic jams on a two-lane road
Trash piling up faster than you can hire staff
Locals muttering, “Tourism is ruining this place”
More isn’t more. More is a migraine.
Here’s the flip side: ten of the right guests will beat one hundred of the wrong ones. Every single time.
The Cost of Chasing Volume
Chasing numbers isn’t growth. It’s a slow leak in your brand.
Cheapskates drain resources. Period. They nickel-and-dime and drop bad reviews the minute the Wi-Fi blinks.
Locals burn out. Resentment spreads faster than a 1-star TripAdvisor rant.
And your destination? It goes generic. When everyone’s welcome, no one feels special.
Volume is vanity. Quality is profit.
How to Spot Your Better Guests
This isn’t a $50,000 consultant project. You can do it in an afternoon.
Step 1: Grab 10 of your best reviews. Google, TripAdvisor, Airbnb. Pick your platform.
Step 2: Copy and paste them into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
Step 3: Ask this question:
“Analyze these reviews and tell me: what type of traveler is this and what do they value most about our destination?”
Step 4: Look for patterns. Maybe your best guests are hikers who love farm-to-table food. Maybe it’s grandparents bringing the family for peace and quiet.
Step 5: Build for them, not everyone. Shape your ads, posts, and offers around those travelers.
That’s how you stop guessing and start knowing.
Why It Works
Better guests:
Spend more and don’t whine about parking fees
Stay longer because they actually like it here
Tell their friends, the kind of friends you want. Not the ones who drag in coolers of cheap beer and leave trash in the dunes.
Remember your sunsets, not your Wi-Fi password
The result? You protect your brand, keep locals happy, and actually enjoy your role in tourism again.
The Flip Side: Bodies don’t build destinations. The right guests do.
That’s the first truth bomb of Destination Sunday. Next week, we’ll tackle why your destination should stop trying to compete with big cities.
Spoiler: you don’t need their chaos to win.