Destination marketing organization

A destination marketing organization (DMO) is an organisation which promotes a location as an attractive travel destination. DMOs are known as tourist boards, tourism authorities or "Convention and Visitors Bureaus".^[1] They primarily exist to provide information to leisure travelers. Additionally, where a suitable infrastructure exists, they encourage event organizers to choose their location for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, collectively abbreviated as MICE.^[1][2]

DMOs are generally tied to the local government infrastructure, often with supporting funds being generated by specific taxes, such as hotel taxes, membership fees, and sometimes government subsidies.^[1] However, in many cases, the observed decline in tourism following cutbacks to public-sector expenditures has motivated the tourism industry to create a private sector coalition in order to provide the functions of a DMO.^[3][4]

With the arrival of the internet more and more Destination Management Companies adopted the term "visit" and added it as a prefix to their city or country name. The phenomenon started in America in 1995 / 1996 and spread over the world with major organizations like the London Tourist Board adopting the concept after the turn of the century.^[5][6]

DMOs seek to build a destination image to promote their destinations.^[7] For any given travel situation, consumers are spoilt by choice of available destinations, and the images held of destination play a critical role in purchase decisions. Destination image therefore plays a major role in the competitiveness of travel destinations.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

References

1. Friedl, Lois (26 June 2019). "For adventures, these are top types of adventure travel". TripSavvy. Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
2. Beck, Jeffrey A. (10 July 2009). "Managing destination marketing organizations, by R. C. Ford & W. C. Peeper". Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 18 (6): 635–638. doi:10.1080/19368620903025063. ISBN 9780615163284. ISSN 1936-8623. OCLC 191909567. S2CID 168111543.
3. "Destination funding models: Can DMOs seek financial stability from their governments?". Destination Think. Destination Think! Professional Services Inc. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
4. "Destination funding models: Can DMOs seek financial stability from their governments?". Destination Think. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
5. "Visit London, new name of the London Tourist Board since april 2003".
6. "History of the Visit London website by Global Visit List".
7. Pike, Steven; Page, Stephen (2014). "Destination marketing organizations and destination marketing: A narrative analysis of the literature" (PDF). Tourism Management. 41: 202–227. doi:10.1016/j.tourman.2013.09.009. hdl:2299/20103. S2CID 154532664.
8. Chon, Kaye (1990). "The role of destination image in tourism: A review and discussion". The Tourist Review. 45 (2): 2–9. doi:10.1108/eb058040. S2CID 56073443.
9. Pike, Steven (2002). "Destination image analysis: A review of 142 papers from 1973-2000" (PDF). Tourism Management. 23 (5): 541–549. doi:10.1016/S0261-5177(02)00005-5.
10. Tasci, Aslie; Gartner, William; Cavusgil, S (2007). "Conceptualization and operationalization of destination image". Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. 31 (2): 194–223. doi:10.1177/1096348006297290. S2CID 154488851.
11. Stepchenkova, S; Mills, J (2010). "Destination image: A meta-analysis of 2000-2007 research". Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 19 (6): 575–609. doi:10.1080/19368623.2010.493071. S2CID 167894329.
12. Pike, Steven (2016). Destination Marketing Essentials (Second ed.). Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-91290-8.