Tourism is what people do when they visit a place outside their usual environment. By some accounts, tourism is the world’s biggest industry. According to The World Tourism Organization, it employs up to 10% of the world's workforce. But what e xactly is this phenomenon we call tourism? Simply put : «T ourism is what people do when they visit a place outside their usual environment. » I t is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon that is steadily getting more attention in international research communities. As a field of study, it is concerned with the following key questions: Who? (t ravels) W here? Why? When? H ow? As with most topics of interest, there are many ways of defining tourism, however, and various definitions have been put forward to serve various purposes. But one thing everyone agrees to is that tourism has to do with travel - i.e. movement between relatively distant locations. But not all forms of travel are considered touris...
What is Tourism Destination Management?
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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.
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