COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2018
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Destination Marketing in the OIC Member Countries1
Tourism destinations can be seen as amalgam of attractions, services, facilities, infrastructure,
landscapes, culture, hospitality and events which requires a coordination among different
actors. By interacting with these resources and stakeholders, tourists create their own
experiences. Because there are various stakeholders involved in selling destination products in
distant markets a central agency should have a leadmarketing role. This leading role was usually
taken by the central government, promoting the destinations in the country until private sector
is also involved in destination marketing activities recently. There is a general agreement on the
importance of marketing these services in a way that creates an overall image of the destination
for success in tourism industry. The effectiveness of the marketing activities might also be
maximized if the stakeholders are coordinated to offer a consistent message and align their
efforts on a shared marketing vision of the destination. Considering various actors and factors
involved in creation of the overall image, and self-serving bureaucracies of public marketing
organizations, destinations need a holistic approach in marketing that would coordinate and
lead various stakeholders, create economies of scale and integrate their efforts effectively.
The role of meta marketing in destination success has also been acknowledged in the literature.
As dynamic systems, destinations require complex and sophisticated structures to design and
implement their marketing strategies. Such a holistic view of destination marketing can be
available at national (NTO) and regional (DMO) tourism organizations or an independent
destination marketing structure might also have been initiated in the locality.
Although the importance of a central destination marketing function is acknowledged there are
debates on how this should be accomplished. What should be the structure of such a marketing
committee, what are the responsibilities, how should stakeholder involvement be improved,
should it be state-led or market-led, what are the activities that should be outsourced, how can
destinations benefit from economies of scale in marketing, synergy and cost sharing, how can
the funds needed be raised, what are different successful benchmarks and examples remain to
be at the center of discussion. For example, if there is a DMO present at the destination, one of
the responsibilities of the DMO becomes marketing of the destination. But how actually this
marketing action is performed effectively within the DMO or any other structure needs
clarification.
Marketing strategies are important for destinations overall success in the long term for
destinations at the introduction, growth and maturity stages of their lifecycle. The effectiveness
of destination marketing depends on the institutional structures and processes that integrate
different stakeholder perspectives into a unified whole. There are already a number of
organizations involved in tourism marketing and promotion working under governmental
structures and ministries in OIC. However, although these organizations have dedicated funds
to realize destination marketing efforts; they usually lack the expertise, structure and
orientation to act as an efficient coordinating and leading body. Destination Marketing
Organization can be classified under different categories as listed at Table 4.3.
1 The 12th Meeting of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group will be held with the theme of Destination Marketing Strategies
in the OIC Member Countries. Thus, the Tourism Outlook 2017 includes this section as an introductory section for the
meeting.