MMGY  NextFactor welcomes Greg Oates as chief innovation officer

October 24, 2019 / Paul Ouimet (Author)

NEXTFactor Enterprises announced today that Greg Oates has joined the company as Chief Innovation Officer. He has a proven track record for defining the convergence of trends driving the future of tourism, urban, economic and community development.

Greg has been active in the travel industry for two decades, most recently as Skift’s Executive Editor of Brand Strategy, where he developed marketing and research materials for destination organizations ranging from VisitBritain to Visit Phoenix.

At NEXTFactor, Greg is responsible for contextualizing the trends reshaping global tourism to inform the ongoing development of the DestinationNEXT research, produced in collaboration with Destinations International.

Launched in 2014 and updated in 2017, the DestinationNEXT framework is a data-driven methodology to measure levels of destination strength and community engagement as they apply to the visitor economy in regions of all sizes. Building on that, DestinationNEXT provides actionable strategies to inform how the public and private sectors can collaborate more effectively to balance tourism growth and quality of life.

Greg also is a lead developer of NEXTFactor’s Destination Master Plans and Strategic Marketing Plans to help tourism organizations and their partners position themselves as progressive thought leaders in their communities. An extensive portion of that work involves collaborating with local governments, economic development organizations, academic institutions, business leaders and community groups to align the collective interests of key local stakeholders and residents.

“Effective destination marketing and management today is really an economic development engine and community building platform for the entire region,” he said. “More destination leaders are embracing the idea that their visitor economy, both on the leisure and meetings side, should benefit a much broader spectrum of the local community to drive sustainable growth.”

In the coming year, Greg will be producing a series of research reports and webinars to reposition sustainable tourism around a more holistic exploration of quality of place. The series will dive into themes including: equitable economic development, diversity and inclusivity, environmental integrity, quality of life, workforce and housing, mobility and connectivity, and the next generation of community technology platforms.