I was sitting next to my 17-year-old daughter the other night, scrolling through college websites. I figured she’d zip through them with no problem. She’s smart, Gen Z, and spends more time on her phone than I spend in my inbox. But to my surprise, she hesitated. She wasn’t sure where to click. She got frustrated.
That’s when it hit me: Even the most digital-native generation struggles to navigate clunky websites. And in a world shaped by TikTok swipes, Instagram reels, and AI answers, the window for grabbing someone’s attention has never been shorter.
We’ve officially entered the era of click-once culture.
What is Click-Once Culture?
Click-once culture is the new digital behavior that says: “If I don’t get value or clarity within one click or one scroll, I’m out.” It’s not a trend. It’s a rewiring of how people interact with content online.
Fueled by platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Google’s answer-first design, users now expect:
- Immediate gratification
- Zero friction
- Visual-first storytelling
- Scrollable, not searchable, content
If your DMO website doesn’t deliver instant clarity, it’s not getting a second chance.
The Data Doesn’t Lie: DMO Website Traffic is Falling
According to Simpleview’s industry snapshot from early September 2025:
- All DMO web sessions are down -31% year over year
- Organic traffic is down a staggering -41%
- Paid search is down -16%
- And yet, lodging searches are up +3.2%
That means travelers still want to go places. But they aren’t navigating your website to figure it out.
In reviewing some campaign performance data recently, I saw a bounce rate over 80% and an average time on site of just 17 seconds for a “Things To Do” page. That page had 40 different options with no prioritization or story — just a directory. And users? They left. Fast.
In the same campaign, the “Events” page saw the highest engagement per 1,000 impressions. Why? Because it was timely. Specific. Actionable. And it delivered on what users wanted without making them dig.
What’s Causing the Shift?
Search and Social Are Stealing the First Impression. Users now discover destinations through TikToks, Instagram reels, influencer posts, and answer-first results on Google. Discovery happens in-feed or in-search, not necessarily on your website. By the time they reach your site, they’re looking for fast validation.
Social is the New Search. More travelers are planning their trips by watching short-form videos and reading carousel posts. The travel funnel is starting with visuals, not blog posts or static landing pages.
Too Many Choices Create Planning Paralysis. Listing 40 hiking trails or 25 coffee shops might feel comprehensive, but it overwhelms the user. Barry Schwartz called this the Paradox of Choice: too many options lead to no action.
Website Design Hasn’t Kept Up. DMO sites still rely on menus, dropdowns, and long-scroll copy. But users expect your site to function like every other digital interface they use. That’s Jakob’s Law: users carry expectations from one platform to the next. If your site doesn’t behave like Instagram or Google Maps, they get lost.
So What Should DMOs Do?
- Reframe Your Website’s Role. Your site isn’t the trip planner anymore. It’s the validator. It’s where people go after they’ve been inspired elsewhere to confirm dates, get details, and take action.
- Prioritize Timely Content. Events outperform evergreen. Period. Create landing pages that answer: “What should I do this weekend in [your destination]?”
- Deliver Value in One Scroll. If your page doesn’t communicate its value in 8 seconds or less, you’re losing mobile users. Feature fewer options. Use more visuals. Simplify the call-to-action.
- Design for Behavior, Not Structure. Start creating pages and campaigns around how people behave today: short attention spans, mobile-first, scroll-happy, and inspiration-led.
Pro Tip: Make Your Website AI-Friendly
This tip came from my good industry friend Josh Collins, founder and CEO of Main Street Mentor:
“One thing you should use in your blog to help educate the market is the super simple setting inside most tourism websites’ SEO plugins to allow for AI search. Turn on the llm.txt feature. Just about every single SEO plugin on the market has shipped this update and most leave it off still. It means, if a tourism brand wants to show up in AI searches through tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc., then that simple little switch allows AI to read their website content. Much like schema markup and sitemap txt files used to for Google.”
Most SEO plugins (Yoast, RankMath, SEOPress, etc.) include this option. Just check your settings, flip the switch, and let the AI bots in.
Bonus Thought: Are We Measuring the Right Things?
For years, I’ve valued session duration above two minutes and pages per session at two or more as signs of healthy engagement. But now, I’m starting to second-guess those standards — or at least look at them more closely.
Why? Because in today’s digital environment, a long session doesn’t always mean someone’s engaged. It might mean they’re confused. And more page views might mean they didn’t find what they needed the first time.
What we should be asking now is: Did the user find value quickly?
Instead of time and clicks, maybe we start optimizing for:
- Scroll depth
- Engagement rate
- Click-throughs on featured content
- Micro conversions like downloads, shares, or calendar adds
It’s no longer about how long someone stays — it’s about how clearly we deliver value before they decide to leave.
DMO websites aren’t dying. They’re just being forced to evolve.
We don’t need more pages. We need smarter pages.
We don’t need longer visits. We need faster clarity.
Click-once culture is here. Either you design for it, or you disappear in it.
Now go audit your landing pages. Ask yourself: Would your daughter know where to click?
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