Asheville, N.C., was not only the locale of last week’s
Tourism Cares North American Meaningful Travel Summit, but it was also the
conference’s focal point.
The city suffered a major setback when the French Broad
River overflowed its banks during Hurricane Helene in 2024. But its recovery
gave the city a chance to reset its approach to tourism, and its ongoing
experience in doing so took center stage at the Summit, with seven Asheville
speakers joining panels, onstage interviews and presentations.
Destination stewardship, community-based tourism, and
climate resilience were the primary themes of the Summit. “We’re looking closely at what long-term recovery can
and should mean for destinations, with Asheville as a prime example,” said
Tourism Cares CEO Greg Takehara.
Dodie Stephens, Explore Asheville's vice
president of marketing, said that 95% of the city’s residents believe that
tourism benefits the community. “Not just what we’re doing, but how we’re doing
it,” she said, adding that once they’ve arrived in Asheville, many visitors
also “want to be part of the comeback.”
Robyn Basso,
senior director, travel industry partnerships for the Hawaii Visitors &
Convention Bureau, who was on a panel with Stephens, said that her work in
Lahaina, Maui, after its devastating fires reinforced her belief that finding
the right balance between restoring economic vitality and allowing time and
space for communities to heal is “critical.”
Stephens also emphasized the importance of having strong
brand guidelines in place as a hedge against an unexpected crisis, saying that
they could be more important even than a crisis plan.
“Crisis plans provide a framework, but each crisis is
different. No one would have predicted the flooding,” she said. But knowing
that the Explore Asheville brand reflected the community itself “gave us
direction when we didn’t have the bandwidth to be creative in the moment. It
provided a roadmap to recovery.”
Attendees had the opportunity to participate in the
ongoing recovery by planting trees with the local nonprofit Riverlink along the river to help prevent erosion. Other activities, including
river rafting and a tour of the city’s arts district, were also open to
participants.
“Hosting the Meaningful Travel Summit offered an
opportunity for Asheville to spotlight the local organizations that are doing
incredible work in our community around sustainability, while also listening
and collaborating with travel professionals who are working toward similar
goals for their own destinations and businesses,” said Vic Isley, CEO of
Explore Asheville, in a statement.
“Our rebound following Hurricane Helene has given our
region a clearer view of what it takes to build back stronger, support our
people, and create a more resilient future,” Isley added.
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