Chapter 3: Destination Marketing & Management
Overview
Think about your most recent travel experience. Why did you choose to travel to that particular destination? And once you decided to make the journey, how did you learn about what to do, where to eat, and where to stay? Whether a tourist is aware of it or not, destination marketing impacts those decisions.
A destination marketing and management organization is behind the TV commercial, magazine advertisement, or digital banner ad that promotes a destination. These advertisements depict the attractive attributes of a destination and are designed to spark curiosity, intrigue, and the desire to visit the destination. A destination’s website, app, or visitor guide presents information on what to do, where to eat, and where to stay.
A destination marketing and management organization also manages tourism within a destination by assisting visitors, collaborating with tourism stakeholders to develop and maintain sustainable tourism practices, advocating for the tourism industry, analyzing and reporting on tourism statistics, and more. This chapter provides an overview of the purpose and function of a destination marketing and management organization with an emphasis on the wide variety of career paths and roles available in this field.
Objectives
Reading and reviewing this chapter will enable an attentive learner to accomplish the following tasks:
- Understand the similarities and differences between the types of destination marketing and management organizations
- Summarize the evolution of tourism organizations
- Explain why destination marketing and management organizations are important to a destination
- Identify the role of destination marketing and management organizations within a destination
- Describe various professional career pathways at destination marketing and management organizations.
- Identify trends within destination marketing and management
Key Terms
- Destination Management Organization (DMO)
- Tourism-Related Stakeholders
- Destination
- Hotel Occupancy Taxes
- Destination Stewardship
- Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Tourism Products
- Placemaking
- Convention Center
- Prospect
- Sales Missions
- Familiarization Tours (FAMs)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Request for Proposal (RFP)
- Proposal or Bid
Attributions
- Chapter opening image: Travel Brochures by Simon_sees is released under CC BY 2.0
