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 taxes,
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
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