Bridging the Disconnect Between Destination Marketers and Communities They Serve
Skift Take
The talk at the Destinations International annual conference in St. Louis was all about how destination marketing organizations need to transform themselves into destination management organizations. The shift is starting to take place. Progressive destinations that have a head-start on this strategy will take a bigger slice of the pie.
For decades, the dual measures of success for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) were heads in beds and tourism revenue. But now, in a day and age when concerns over sustainability, overtourism, and local quality of life are coming to the fore, the definition of success is changing. And so is the role of the DMO itself, moving from tourism marketer to destination advocate and steward, as Skift called in our 2019 Megatrend.
These topics were front and center last week at the Destinations International annual conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
Part of the reason for the change in DMO mindset, argued Jack Johnson, chief advocacy officer for Destinations International, is that a DMO’s customer is no longer the visitor but rather the community. “Who is your customer? It’s not anyone we have traditionally call
