What is Tourism Destination Management?

With all the challenges faced by tourist destinations today, it is important that they are managed effectively and responsibly. It is therefore essential that the concept of tourism destination management and its functions, are well understood. With this article and video, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of what destination management is, and what it entails.

A tourism destination is basically a geographic area that attracts tourists as visitors, so in principle, any place that has been visited by people either for business or pleasure may be called a destination. But not all destinations have the volume of visitors or the level of activity that requires tourism management, so it makes sense to distinguish between managed destinations and unmanaged destinations. As soon as the number of tourists increases and the impacts of this visitation become significant, then some form of management becomes necessary to maximize the experience of everyone involved and minimize the associated strain on the destination’s environment and population.

 

Following is a simple definition of destination management that may serve as a good starting point for most tourism practitioners.

 

“Destination management is the act of overseeing the use of a destination’s resources to achieve certain goals.”

 

The resources referred to in this definition are the natural and cultural resources that the area is endowed with as well as the organizational, financial, and human resources that play a part in turning the place into a tourist destination.

Destination Mangement

 

At destinations of some size and visitor volume there will usually be a destination management organization (DMO) that takes on the responsibility of integrating and coordinating the tourism management effort. The abbreviation DMO is sometimes used to mean destination marketing organization, and marketing is indeed one of the major tasks of such organizations.

DMOs are usually financed through public-private partnerships (PPP) where public funding is matched or supplemented with membership fees or other forms of funding from tourism businesses at the destination. Significant private contributors are typically large hotels, transport companies or tourist attractions, but all companies or individuals who benefit economically from tourism to the destination should be expected to contribute a share to the common destination management effort relative to the size of their operations.

 

Destination management expert, Alastair Morrison, suggests that destination management involves looking after the following main tasks and roles:

 

1)     Leadership and coordination: Setting the agenda for tourism and coordinating all stakeholders’ efforts toward achieving that agenda.

 

2)     Partnership and team building: Fostering cooperation among government agencies and within the private sector and building partnership teams to reach specific goals.

 

3)     Community and stakeholder relationships and involvement: Involving stakeholders and local community leaders and residents in tourism and monitoring resident attitudes towards tourism.

 

4)     Visitor management: Managing the flows, impacts and behaviors of visitors to protect resources and to enhance visitor safety, experiences and satisfaction.

 

5)     Planning and research: Conducting the essential planning and research needed to attain the destination vision and tourism goals.

 

6)     Product development: Planning and ensuring the appropriate development of physical products and services for the destination.

 

7)   Marketing and promotion: Creating the destination positioning and branding, selecting the most appropriate markets and promoting the destination.

 

Mounting challenges related to sustainability, pandemics, social instability and rapid technological change have emphasized the need for all tourism stakeholders to work and pull together to make their community a good place to live and stay both for visitors and locals. Benefits from good destination management can include:

 

-        Better experiences for the visitors

-        Better and stronger communities for residents

-        Higher profitability for tourism companies

-        Higher tax returns for local governments

-        Less strain on the local environment

 

But as always, the degree to which these benefits will be realized depends on the quality of destination leadership and the willingness of the different stakeholders to cooperate. This, again, requires knowledge about how tourism works and a realization that at the tourist destination, companies are sometimes competitors and sometimes partners.