Submitted by Ailin Fei, Graduate Student at Purdue University
Tourism brings incredible benefits to communities, but without visitor education, it can also bring strain. That’s why Indiana Dunes Tourism partnered with Purdue University to pilot Travel with Care, a research-informed initiative designed to help destinations educate travelers about responsible and respectful behavior.
Travel with Care is an initiative and free industry education resource designed to empower tourism professionals to educate travelers on sustainable tourism practices. This initiative is a collaboration between the Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Travel Lab (STARTlab) in the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue University and Miles Partnership.
This collaboration enhanced the Indiana Dunes Tourism’s “Love and Protect” campaign, which puts Travel with Care principles into action. The campaign focuses on encouraging positive visitor behaviors like packing out trash, parking responsibly, staying on trails, and supporting local businesses, through thoughtful messaging across their website, social media, and on-site signage. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, the messaging was co-created to reflect the values, concerns, and identity of the Indiana Dunes community.
In addition to communications, the partnership includes applied research to measure how both residents and visitors feel about the destination’s sustainability and marketing efforts. Through stakeholder sentiment surveys, the team gathers insights to help guide future strategy, highlight opportunities for education, and support ongoing stewardship goals.
Travel with Care is available as a free online resource for other destinations and Extension professionals. The site features behavior-based messaging guides, case studies, research insights, spotlights of destinations, a toolkit to adapt the Travel with Care principles and other resources and information designed to be easily adapted to local needs.
Click to read more and get inspired by Indiana Dunes’ “Love and Protect” campaign.
By combining research, community collaboration, and open-access resources, Travel with Care makes it easier for destinations to protect what makes them special, while still providing a great experience for every visitor.