From March 9 to 12, I joined close to 200 DMO professionals from across the US and Canada at the 2026 Partnership & Community Engagement (PACE) Forum. The event, sponsored by Granicus Simpleview, Miles Partnership, and CrowdRiff, brought together a community focused on one thing: building stronger destinations through memberships, partnerships, and engagement.
 

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The forum's main message was clear. Membership is not only about listings, benefits, or transactional relationships. It’s about becoming a true partner in growth by connecting businesses to opportunities, not just promoting them. It's about providing data, insights, and reporting that demonstrate real value and creating platforms for collaboration, not just communication. 

A major takeaway was how closely membership ties into broader industry development. Supporting members and partners today means helping strengthen the entire tourism ecosystem. It’s no longer just about attracting visitors—it’s about creating places where people genuinely want to live, work, and explore.

Additional topics that were explored during the forum, focused on supporting partners, included: 

  • Workforce development and talent attraction.
  • Supporting new and emerging tourism experiences.
  • Encouraging innovation through tools like AI and digital platforms.
  • Helping businesses adapt to changing visitor expectations.

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One of the most valuable discussions focused on how to move beyond passive communication and what active engagement really looks like in practice. This included group sessions and roundtables, lunch & learns, partner office hours, data-backed touchpoints, and smarter segmentation, some of which Tourism Kelowna has incorporated into its work. 

It was encouraging to see that Tourism Kelowna's current approach is closely aligned with many of the leading practices discussed at the forum, including the information members would like to see shared by DMOs, which includes:

  • Sharing results through simple, digestible reporting.
  • Highlighting partner success stories.
  • Providing visibility that goes beyond basic exposure.
  • Creating opportunities for partners to be part of the destination story.
     

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Coming home from the PACE Forum, I'm energized about where this work is headed and look forward to building on the opportunities to further our membership and industry development initiatives, with the goal of supporting the tourism industry as it continues to grow. 

To learn more about the forum or about Tourism Kelowna's membership and industry development, please contact me at (250) 801-3167 or jacqui@tourismkelowna.com.