ABSTRACT
Fostering a philosophy and culture of cooperating to compete, between local tourism stakeholders, is essential in the quest for destination competitiveness. The destination marketing organisation (DMO) acts as an impartial coordinator to stimulate the pooling of destination resources with the aim of creating a greater impact in the market than would otherwise be achieved by the disparate efforts of individual tourism businesses. There are also opportunities to partner with other sectors of the local economy to attract events, conferences, incentive groups, exhibitions, medical tourism and business development. Regarding the latter, there has been a shift in some countries towards subsuming the role of DMOs within economic development agencies (EDA). EDAs have a broader multi-industry mandate, where tourism is just one sector of interest. Travel to attend business, sporting, spiritual and cultural events represent a major sector of the visitor industry, and therefore presents opportunities for destinations worldwide; to stimulate the creation of new events, and to bid for existing special events that rotate venues. Meetings and events provide opportunities to enhance occupancy during off-peak periods by attracting non-holiday visitors. For most DMOs, event tourism represents one of the few opportunities to be directly involved in new product development. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the importance of a supportive host community and the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market.
