One of the greatest challenges facing destinations around the world is finding a way to bring together tourism stakeholders to work collaboratively to develop, manage, and market their tourism destination. 

It’s widely understood by tourism professionals that Destination Management Organizations (DMOs)play a key and important role in connecting the tourism industry and serving as an advocate for tourism that grows local economies while mitigating tourism’s negative impacts to the environment, cultural heritage, and local residents.  In most destinations the role of the DMO is focused on destination marketing since most tourism businesses recognize the advantages of working together to create demand for a destination.  But anyone who has been to an overcrowded, too touristy, trash-ridden destination should understand why focusing on destination management is just as important as destination marketing.

As important as Destination Management Organizations may be, unfortunately most governments fail to provide financial support to help them.   In most developed destinations a combination of a bed tax, industry membership fees, and/or government funding provides modest marketing budgets that in turn convenes and unites the tourism industry around a common vision for tourism development.  But this is not always the case in developing destinations.  It’s these types of undiscovered destinations that need DMOs more than anywhere since we all know that it’s unplanned, unregulated tourism development that destroys the places we love to visit. 

But how do you finance such an organization when there are only a few small tourism businesses in a destination and reluctance from national tourism authorities to decentralize tourism development and marketing?  

Ajloun is one of Jordan’s undiscovered gems that offers visitors wonderful experiences ranging from 12^thcentury castles to hiking trails through green forests. But the best is that the majority of these services are provided by local communities that are welcoming visitors into their homes and at their dinner tables to experience the incredible Jordanian culture and hospitality.  Ajloun was not realizing its tourism potential and a main reason for this was because no one was working together to promote and develop the tourism destination.  I knew a DMO was needed, but how to make this work and what is required to make this successful?  

This was the question I was tasked with last week while on assignment with the USAID Jordan Tourism Development Program.  Below are my reflections based on experience in Jordan and countless other developing destinations on what is needed to establsh and sustain a destination management organization.

While every destination is unique and different I have come to learn that the following three key ingredients are required to establish and sustain a destination management organization in the developing world.

1.  Willingness to work together – as easy as it sounds the first and probably the most important ingredient to creating a successful destination management organization is making sure the tourism stakeholders are willing and able to work together.  Small tourism destinations are made up of people and people are complicated.  Especially in small towns where religious or political beliefs can be as divisive as loyalty to your favorite English Premiere soccer club or who someone is currently dating. 

In essence you are asking people who consider themselves competitors to agree to meet, work together, and invest time and resources for a shared good.  The first thing I did when visiting Ajloun is interview as many people as I could to try and determine if there was a willingness to work together and understand the personal dynamics in the destination that I need to be aware of.  Luckily in Ajloun there was an overwhelming desire to work together.  Everyone I met with expressed an overwhelming desire to be part of something that could help elevate Ajloun’s tourism offer.

2. Leadership and Passion – while a willingness to work together is critical, to establishing a Destination Management Organization, equally important is finding someone with the leadership skills and passion for making it happen.  This is where most DMOs that are established with the support of international development organizations fail.  It’s much easier for the external consultant to step in and be the leader and initiate the work of the organization.  But who becomes the glue that keeps everyone together after the donor support ends and the tourism consultant leaves?  Who calls the meetings and sets the agenda? Who sees the status quo and is passionate about making change?  Without a clear leader or group of leaders that are willing to invest substantial amounts of time and headaches to make this happen, it will not work.   

This was one of the challenges I recognized last week in Ajloun.  While many people I met are willing to come to a meeting and benefit from a destination marketing initiative, it was not clear to me who would be willing to take the lead and sustain this DMO over time.  But this is also why setting up a DMO takes time.  Several more conversations and meetings need to take place before I can say one way or another if there exists a leader in Ajloun that will ensure the long term success of this initiative.

3. A Sustainable Business Model – To be honest I have seen destinations that lack one or two of the above mentioned ingredients that are still able to sustain a Destination Management Organization simply because it had a business model that provided sustained sources of income or funding to operate. However even those destinations with the best leaders and a willingness to work together have not been able to sustain a DMO without a sustainable business model. 

But how do you create a sustainable business model for a DMO?  This is a question that tourism professionals around the globe are trying to solve.  In the US we have the membership model and the bed tax that funds most DMOs or new Tourism Improvement Districts (TIDs).  In Europe, funding from local governments that recognize tourism’s return on investment supports the operating budgets of most DMOs.  But in the developing world or in the case of Ajloun where there is less then 10 tourism enterprises that collectively sell less then $20,000 in services a year, how do we establish a sustainable business model for the DMO?  There is no way the businesses in Ajloun will pay a membership fee and even if they would the amount would not go far.  Government support is out of the question and the lack of large companies outside the tourism sector means that finding a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) sponsor will be a challenge.

As I interviewed more and more people I realized that the lack of tour operators in the region combined with the inability of many of the community tourism enterprises to take Internet reservations or create packages meant that there was a business opportunity.  This business opportunity is around the creation of what I like to call a Destination Management and Marketing Company (DMMC).  A DMMC takes the same mission as a DMO and has a governance structure similar to a board of directors of a DMO but it uses a business model that provides services in exchange for compensation to sustain the organization’s operating costs.  By no means is creating a DMMC an easy task but I believe that Ajloun is a perfect destination for this social enterprise approach.  The next step, like any new business is developing a business plan to define the company’s products, services, target markets, operating plan, and financial models.  It is only after this business plan is developed and local stakeholders agree to the concept can the business be established.  I look forward to the opportunity to work with the wonderful people I met In Ajloun to see if the social enterprise business model can sustain and support the needs of the tourism industry.

In summary creating a sustainable DMO model for Ajloun will not be an easy task.  But together with the local stakeholders, if we can bring everyone together, identify a leader with passion, and establish a sustainable business model we might be able to help Ajloun realize its tourism potential. 

For more information about Solimar’s work in sustainable tourism in Jordan please click here. 

For more information about Destination Management please download this toolkit we helped establish for USAID and the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance.  

In today’s tourism marketing world, all the buzz is around discovering a destination like a local. If you search for “travel like a local,” you will find countless articles and websites trying to help travelers discover destinations through a different perspective. As an avid traveler that loves to escape tourist traps, I appreciate destination marketing organizations trying to help me connect with recommendations from people who live in the destinations I want to visit.

I think this is why Airbnb.com and the sharing economy are taking off, not just because it provides a different type of accommodation, but because it connects visitors with locals. One of the benefits of staying at an Airbnb.com property is the ability to meet a local to give you recommendations for what to do, where to eat, and how to experience the destination away from the hop-on, hop-off tour buses. Who doesn’t want this type of local knowledge when planning a trip to an unknown destination?

The challenge for destination marketing organizations is how do you get locals involved and willing to share their recommendations with visitors? Destinations like Philadelphia, are launching programs called “Philly like a local” – Experience Philadelphia as its residents know and love it,” which recruits locals to take over the DMO’s social media accounts. But taking that approach to scale and getting hundreds or thousands of locals involved in a program to answer the question “What is so special about my place?” is not an easy task…

…unless you have the National Geographic Society on your side.

We have been very fortunate to work alongside National Geographic for the last 7 years helping destinations apply an approach to sustainable tourism development called Geotourism. A concept created by Jonathan Tourtellot, geotourism encourages destinations to develop and market tourism products that sustain and enhance the geographical character of a place—its environment, culture, geology, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. 

The Geotourism approach is unique among tourism development solutions due to its focus on the establishment and empowerment of a private-public partnership that serves as a forum for dialogue, collaboration, and planning among local businesses, non-profit organizations, residents and tourism authorities. The goal is to better manage challenges through cooperation while also identifying, sustaining, enhancing, and promoting the destination’s unique assets.

As a tourism development and marketing professional working in the field for more than a decade, I can tell you that bringing stakeholders together to participate in a tourism development and marketing program is hard work. Every one of our projects involves some type of stakeholder engagement process to plan and implement destination and marketing programs, but getting government, businesses, and residents to come together for a meeting or complete a task is extremely difficult.  

This all changes when National Geographic is part of the program. The power of that yellow logo is incredible. People all over the world admire the brand immensely and jump at the opportunity to collaborate with such an respected organization. With the mission of inspiring people to care about the planet, they are extremely effective at getting locals engaged in caring for their destinations.

James Dion who leads the Geotourism program for Solimar and National Geographic Maps Division, kicks off every project with a public launch announcing the program. This brings together businesses, politicians, residents, and media to learn about the program and how they can be involved. After the public launch event, local residents are encouraged to visit a National Geographic co-branded website to nominate a business, place, attraction, or event that is an authentically local experience. This event and program generates incredible media attention at a local level, helping further distribute the call for participation from locals. 

We are currently in production of a U.S. Gulf States Geotourism program supported by national, state, and local partners to raise awareness of the unique cultural and environmental experiences in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. We are working to rebuild the area’s allure following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill that caused a devastating economic impact on the region.

Through local events and media outreach led by our local consultants, the program is generating incredible media coverage, which in turn has inspired over 1,000 nominations (and counting!) from locals for the Geotourism MapGuide. Once the nomination period closes, National Geographic’s team of cartographers, editors, fact checkers, and designers will work with the local public-private partnerships created at the beginning of the program to finalize the MapGuide and prepare for a public roll-out.

In summary, getting locals involved in destination marketing and management is not only a wise approach to ensuring a destination maintains it’s sense of place, but it also is a great way to help visitors discover the hidden gems of your destination. 

Contact us today if you are interested in bringing National Geographic to your destination to inspire your locals and visitors to care about your destination.

Here is some of the most recent media attention generated from the U.S. Gulf States Geotourism program. It’s just one great example of how the program effectively brings people together and generates immediate excitement. 

Alabama to be part of National Geographic geotourism project – Your Town Alabama

Residents encouraged to nominate areas for geotourism – The Selma Times-Journal

What’s special about Columbus? Nominate your pick for National Geographic map – The Dispatch

National Geographic launching locally built travel guides in BP oil spill states – The Time Picayune

Louisiana selected as part of National Geographic’s Geotourism interactive map – WAFB News

Let National Geographic help you – Natchez Democrat

Your authentic Florida location belongs in Nat Geo’s geotourism guide – Visit Florida

Alabama Gulf Coast site nominations sought for Geotourism MapGuide – AL.com

Massive geotourism project underway in U.S. Gulf Coast States – Destination Stewardship Center

Creating a destination brand is an important part of destination marketing, but the process can be arduous and intimidating. How do you capture an entire destination in one cohesive brand? It’s no easy task, but here are some of our favorite destination brands and a brief look at what makes them successful.

Play on Words

I Amsterdam and cOPENhagen have used their destination brands to create a fun play on words, but the clever brands don’t just stop at the name. Both brands are also great representations of their city’s unique identity.

I Amsterdam

I Amsterdam is a two-fold brand which appeals to local residents and visitors alike. As part of an overall rebranding effort aimed at highlighting the city as a great place to live, work and visit, Amsterdam focused on showcasing their destination through local engagement. It’s not only a great way to attract visitors, but it’s also meant to inspire locals to take pride in their own city. By engaging local interest, Amsterdam has successfully recruited a key group of brand ambassadors – their own residents!

Photo from: http://www.conscioushotels.com/cityGuides/iamsterdam

Copenhagen

“Open for You” is the perfect brand for Copenhagen, a progressive city that prides itself on welcoming new ideas and new people. In fact, the brand is so open, they invite anyone to create their own logo and “open for….” slogan. The brand is broad, diverse, and adaptable – the perfect complement to the city it represents. 

Photo from: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2011/june/copenhagen-open-for-you-city-branding

Choose A Unique Brand Ambassador

Sometimes a brand takes months or even years to develop, and sometimes a brand ambassador just falls into your lap. By taking advantage of 2 “awww”-inducing photos that went viral on social media, Scotland and Banff National Park capitalized on the attention by embracing their unlikely new brand ambassadors. 

Banff Squirrel

Photo from: National Geographic

The Banff Squirrel won the job of the world’s first spokes-squirrel by successfully photobombing a visitor’s snapshot. After the photo was posted on National Geographic’s website, it went viral. Those few days of exposure could have been the end, but Banff Lake Louise Tourism astutely seized on the opportunity and welcomed the photo-bombing squirrel into their brand. 

It has been a huge success. Banff Squirrel now has over 13,000 twitter followers.  While the tweets are hilarious, they also serve as a practical way to interact with visitors and promote Banff.

Scotland Shetland Ponies

No single image has ever made me want to visit a destination as much as Visit Scotland’s photograph of Shetland ponies in cardigans. Launched as part of the Year of Natural Scotland, it’s no surprised that these sweater-loving ponies went viral. One should never underestimate the brand power of cute animals.

Photo from: Visit Scotland

The ponies have become the unofficial mascots of Scotland and they have been used to help promote Natural Scotland on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. They’ve even inspired a few new Visit Scotland videos. We would love to see the shetland ponies make even more appearances in Scotland’s branding – perhaps as official mascots! 

Explain Your Brand 

Australia

Australia, along with their neighbor country New Zealand, has long been the gold standard of destination branding and marketing. One reason Australia continually rises to the top is their deep understanding of their brand and the time they spend explaining their brand to industry partners. They basically have an entire brand just to represent their brand. By bringing their brand to life for tour operators and other travel trade experts, Australia continues to grow their brand from the inside out. It’s not enough to just have a brand – you have to know how to promote it and communicate about it.     

Keep it Simple

Going back to our earlier question, how do you capture an entire destination in one cohesive brand? One answer is to develop a broad destination brand that can be adapted to represent the many different experiences within a destination. A narrow brand may have a strong message, but it’s limited meaning will ultimately hinder it’s  long-term potential. 

Incredible India

Sometimes, less is more. Incredible India may not be the most unique destination slogan, but its straightforward message has been wonderfully adapted to showcase India. We especially love their beautiful print ads that use India’s landscape to complete the exclamation point in their logo. With images this striking, why not let the photographs do the talking?

Namibia Endless Horizons

We might be a little (ok, a lot) bias on this one, but Namibia: Endless Horizons does a great job of highlighting Namibia’s expansive landscapes with a straightfoward, image-focused brand. “Endless horizons” conjures up visions of vast skylines and open spaces – exactly what you’ll find in Namibia. It’s a place where you can experience nature uninterrupted and find a new beginning on your own endless horizon. 

NAMIBIA TOURISM- Endless Horizons Promo from Warwick Allan on Vimeo.

Interested in learning more about destination branding? Check out our tourism branding resources. 

In the 1950s, before affordable jetliners helped to launch the modern-day tourism explosion, the world experienced 25 million international tourism arrivals a year. Today, as the world population has grown significantly and people, on the whole, have more disposable income, that number has jumped over 1 billion. Before the advent of the Internet, destinations tended to focus mainly on promotion to maximize visitation. In an era when trip choices were more limited, promotion was often all that was needed to capture the visitor dollar. Now, however, travel options have increased exponentially, and the impact of technology has dramatically altered the provision of visitor information, both prior to and after arriving at a destination.

Tourism destinations have begun to appreciate the need to better manage the whole visitor experience as they realize that success can translate into repeat visits, longer stays, increased spending and positive word of mouth. The Internet has brought much more information to the traveler’s fingertips, making destination management even more important. Destinations must be better organized and promote themselves more effectively and more often to stay ahead of the curve. 

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the role of governance in tourism is undergoing a shift from a traditional public sector model that promotes government policy to a more corporate model that emphasizes efficiency, return on investments, the role of the market, and partnership between public and private sectors. Regarding the last of these, there has been a greater emphasis on public/private partnerships in recent years as destinations learn that both parties must be equally involved.

In response, destination management organizations (DMOs) have begun to form, comprised of both public and private sector stakeholders. DMOs are often the only true advocates for a holistic tourism industry in a place, and in this role, they ensure the mitigation of tourism’s negative impacts to the environment and local communities as well as the sharing of opportunities for a vibrant exchange of people. In fact, a DMO may best serve to facilitate dialogue among the private sector, public sector, and other stakeholders that may otherwise never collaborate or understand how their decisions reverberate down a destination’s long tourism value chain.

So what have we as tourism development professionals learned in the past 50 years? How have we evolved into better destination managers? Better organization, equal inclusion of the private and public sectors, and building local capacity all contribute to making tourism more sustainable. Here are some basic lessions we’ve learned: 

Communication counts. Residents need to understand why the historic site or natural landscape they see every day represent a potentially important economic benefit for them. Managers need to understand locals’ needs and concerns. Tourists need to learn the significance of what they see, why and how they can help preserve it. It is best when locals help with this interpretation, as the process increases their ownership of the story. And finally, the rest of the world needs to understand the value of the place. No better messengers exist than those enthusiastic home comers with travel stories to tell.

Planning counts. Without planning and public education, the incentive to protect can easily degenerate into mere exploitation. There is a need to see the whole picture from the beginning and focus on long-term goals throughout the process. 

Management counts. Just letting tourism happen likely leads to trouble, especially when visitation soars. Dispersing tourists and timing their access can mitigate crowding. Encouraging tourists to stay overnight instead of making quick day trips can increase local economic benefits. High-quality tourism rather than high-volume tourism conserves rather than exploits.

Individuals count. Behind institutional reports and government memos hides a key reality: individuals make huge differences. Success or failure easily depends on a dedicated local person working tirelessly to inspire others, organize them, and keep the process moving.

Communities count. People who live in gateways hold the key to create a “virtuous circle,” whereby tourism’s contribution to the economy generates incentives to conserve the resources that keep tourists coming. It may be necessary to have some kind of forum, such as a sustainable tourism stewardship council. Top-down schemes imposed from the outside don’t work well, if at all. Locals must own part of the process.

It is uplifting to watch destinations and industry practitioners begin to understand how best to harness the power of tourism and use it for better, not worse. Learn how Solimar can help your destination use tourism for good through our destination solutions. 

Solimar is working with the USAID funded EDMC Project in supporting the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia (NCFA) to develop a national tourism website designed to raise awareness of the country in key international markets .

Tourism in Armenia has experienced high rates of growth in the past few years, made possible by a combination of the national government’s prioritization of tourism development, investments in infrastructure and internatioanl tourism promotion (including this parachute-focused television spot below). Solimar’s goal is to augment this growth through smart tourism marketing.

Our first step in tackling destination websites is to develop a comprehensive website strategy that takes into consideration target market preferences, user experience, architecture requirements, and content needs. As a national tourism portal, this site will have a significant amount of practical travel information, including over 100 pages of rich informative content, interactive maps, photo and video viewers, and the ability for Armenian tourism business to upload and manage content about their businesses. A mobile-compatible app is also in the works.

Long-term sustainability of the website after development funding ends is an important consideration for us.  A new not-for-profit company owned by the NCFA and overseen by a six-member private sector advisory board will manage the portal and offer membership, advertising and booking functions to fund its operations. 

The website is presently in development and is anticipated to be launching by the end of 2013. Once launched it will provide NCFA and the country with a high-quality marketing tool through which to promote the country to prospective travelers and drive those travelers to tourism business, increasing awareness and tourism sales.