Source: Destinations International, Finding Our Cornerstone.
Destination marketing/management organizations (DMOs) – most often a convention and visitors bureaus (CVB) or tourism boards - are responsible for promoting a community as an attractive travel destination and enhancing its public image as a dynamic place to live, work and play. Through the impact of travel, we strengthen the economic position and provide opportunity for people in our communities.
DMOs are essential to the economic and social-well being of the communities we represent, driving direct economic impact through the visitor economy and fueling development across the entire economic spectrum by creating familiarity, attracting decision makers, sustaining air service and improving the quality of life in a place.
Destination promotion is in fact a public good for the benefit and well-being of all; an essential investment no community can afford to abate without causing detriment to the community’s future economic and social well-being.
Destination organizations customers are not meeting planners, event planners, concert promoters, association executives, tour operators, travel writers, bloggers, influencers, or anyone else we traditionally have called our customers. They are the suppliers. They supply the raw material a community needs to compete—the needed ingredient to create a vibrant community, to build a community, to invest in a community. They bring people. And the people are tourists, consumers and talent. And those people bring business, investment and capital.
They develop dynamic economic opportunities in our communities to help the people in our destinations. Our families, our friends, our neighbors. Our community. That is why the work we do is so very, very important.
