Campaign imagery, editorial work, and content libraries for destination marketing organizations. Shot across 65+ countries.
This page is for marketing leaders at destination marketing organizations who are evaluating photography and video production for their destination. Specifically:
If you’re working on a campaign, building out a year-round content library, or running an RFP for destination photography services, the sections below cover what I actually deliver, how it’s different from generic travel photography, and what working together looks like.
Tourism board deliverables are not a single hero image. They’re a library that has to work across a full marketing calendar, serve multiple internal stakeholders, and extend through partner programs. The specific outputs that come up most often:
Generic travel photography produces frames that could be anywhere. Destination photography produces frames that could only be where they were shot. The difference is in the preparation, the engagement, and the breadth of what a single creator can deliver.
Understanding the destination’s brand positioning matters. A state tourism board repositioning around outdoor recreation has different creative needs than a city CVB marketing urban food and culture. Knowing how imagery will flow through co-op advertising with partner properties changes what you shoot and how you shoot it. Respecting how local businesses and residents should be represented is the difference between a destination the community is proud of and one that generates press for the wrong reasons.
Producing libraries that work across a full marketing calendar rather than single campaigns is the structural shift. One campaign’s hero images can’t carry a year of social, paid, direct, and partner usage. A destination content library is scoped, shot, and delivered with that full year in mind from the beginning.
Photo, video, drone, and UGC delivered by the same creator with a consistent visual voice. For a tourism board, that means:
Read the long-form argument for this approach in the complete guide to travel and commercial photography.
Nashville, Tennessee · Destination Marketing Organization
[Case study summary: Visit Music City engagement scope, dates, and deliverables. Jake to confirm specific project details before publishing this block publicly.]
[The creative challenge or brief from the Visit Music City team: campaign launch, seasonal refresh, partner activation, or ongoing library work. Fill in from engagement documentation.]
[Specific locations, subjects, and coverage days. Honky-tonk district, Broadway music venues, East Nashville food scene, downtown skyline aerials, neighborhood culture coverage. Confirm specifics.]
[Territory, duration, media rights, and sub-licensing structure. Confirm.]
The engagement process mirrors the one on the services page, adapted for tourism board realities.
If you’re running an RFP, I respond with a scoped proposal inside your timeline, including shot plan, creative direction, deliverables, licensing structure, and investment. If you’re working outside an RFP, the same information comes from a 30-minute briefing call and a follow-up proposal within 3 business days.
Proposals are written for the committee and partner-approval realities of tourism board procurement. Line items are legible to non-creative stakeholders. Licensing and sub-licensing terms are clearly spelled out for legal and partner teams.
Most tourism board engagements involve coordinating access with partner hotels, venues, restaurants, and cultural institutions. I handle coordination directly or work with your team’s established partner contacts, whichever produces the cleaner production.
Full photo delivery in 2–3 weeks; video in 3–5 weeks. Sneak peeks within 48 hours of wrap. Digital delivery through a named gallery with licensing parameters built in. Ongoing support for campaign partner onboarding and sub-license activation as the library rolls out.
Tourism board licensing typically structures around four dimensions.
Sub-licensing is the piece most tourism boards under-structure at the start. Getting it right up front saves legal cycles later and extends the usable life of the library. Full breakdown in travel and commercial photography licensing explained.
Per the services page, Hotel & Tourism Content retainers start at $20,000 per property annually. For tourism boards, a typical annual engagement covering a campaign launch and seasonal refreshes ranges from $40,000 to $150,000 or more, depending on scope, location count, deliverable mix, and licensing breadth.
Anchor points:
The quote breakdown and what drives pricing up is in travel and commercial photography pricing.
Most tourism boards hire through a combination of RFPs for major campaigns and direct relationships for ongoing library work. RFPs usually request portfolio, relevant case studies, scoped proposal, licensing terms, and pricing. Direct engagements often start with a briefing call and a written proposal within a week.
Scope of the campaign or library, specific deliverables (hero images, video, drone, UGC, social-native vertical), licensing requirements including sub-licensing for partners, usage territory and duration, timeline from award to delivery, and budget band or required cost-breakdown format. A clearer RFP gets a more accurate proposal.
Yes. Full production in one person is the practice. Photo, video, drone, and UGC all delivered with a consistent creative voice, one brief, one contract, one point of contact. For tourism boards this shortens timelines and produces more integrated content than hiring separate specialists per format.
Sub-licensing parameters get written into the primary license agreement. The standard structure allows the commissioning tourism board to authorize named partner hotels, venues, and events to use the library within defined media types, territories, and durations. Unusual sub-licensing needs can be scoped separately.
Yes. Sixty-five countries and counting. International tourism work is a core part of the practice. Logistics, permits, and in-region crew coordination are handled. See the full breakdown in hiring a photographer for international shoots.
Four to twelve weeks from RFP award to final delivery, depending on scope. A standard single-campaign engagement: 1–2 weeks for contract and planning, 2–5 shoot days, 2–3 weeks for photo post and 3–5 weeks for video. Annual library programs run continuously through the year on agreed quarterly cadences.
Tell me about the project. Scoped proposals within 3 business days. Current tourism board work is ongoing across the US and internationally.
I reply within 24 hours.