A destination marketing organization (DMO) is an

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

which promotes a location as an attractive travel destination. DMOs are known as tourist boards, tourism authorities or "Convention and Visitors Bureaus". 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. DMOs are generally tied to the

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

infrastructure, often with supporting funds being generated by specific taxes, such as

hotel tax A tourist tax is any form of tax aimed at generating revenue from tourists or the tourism industry. Tourist taxes are generally a way for governments to generate revenue for the consolidated fund but can also be a hypothecated levy used to add ...

es, membership fees, and sometimes government subsidies. 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 The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

coalition in order to provide the functions of a DMO. 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 The London Tourist Board was established in 1963 and became the official regional tourist board for London under the Development of Tourism Act in 1969. It was responsible for the marketing and promotion of the capital, providing tourist inform ...

adopting the concept after the turn of the century. DMOs seek to build a destination image to promote their destinations. 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.

References

{{Tourism Tourism marketing Marketing organizations Services marketing