Destination Development and
Institutionalization Strategies
In the OIC Member Countries
168
lacks proper facilities at visitor attractions. This results in visitor dissatisfaction and loss of repeat
visitors. 446
Operational:
DMOs are responsible for managing the visitor experience, stakeholder coordination and industry
support.
DMOs have traditionally managed visitor information centers, however, in today’s digital age,
these centers can be easily replaced by websites and social media presence.
Stakeholder engagement has been discussed in the previous section on stakeholders. It is
important to support the industry by providing information, training programs, and sharing
investment opportunities.
Strategic:
DMOs are responsible for resource stewardship, monitoring and evaluation, and crisis
management. In terms of resource stewardship, it is important that DMOs manage a destination’s
resources to minimize negative impact on resources. They need to estimate supply and demand
and prevent over-crowding, which puts a strain on resources. DMOs also need to monitor product
and service quality. This can be done through mystery shopping as well as visitor surveys and
focus group discussions.
To ensure DMO accountability, it is important to have a monitoring and reporting system. DMOs
should be required to produce annual reports that provide full visibility on how their funding was
allocated, report on performance based on pre-determined KPIs, and discuss plans for the
following reporting period. This should be submitted to the government but also be available to
stakeholders, including the public.
In Azerbaijan, where the Tourism Ministry acts as the NTO, there are no measurements of
efficiency of marketing and product development projects. Such measures need to be in place to
enhance the general accountability of the NTO and improve performance.447
In addition, audit mechanisms need to be put in place. In Spain, both Barcelona Activa and
Tourism Granada have their accounts checked by comptrollers to ensure regulations are
followed.
DMOs should have a crisis management plan to deal with crises that occur as a result of terrorist
attacks or natural disasters. They should also have a plan to manage the media during and after
the attack. Guam Visitors Bureau recently had to deal with the threat of an attack from North
Korea. About one hundred media channels from around the world arrived in Guam to cover the
news. The DMO was tasked with the job of communicating to the media that Guam continues to
be a safe and peaceful destination. They also took this as an opportunity to educate people about
the destination and about the thriving tourism industry and ultimately turned it into a positive
situation.448
446 Interview with Managing Director, Cross River Tourism Bureau
447 Azerbaijan case study
448 Interview with President and CEO, Guam Visitors Bureau