ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the characteristics of a destination. It describes the types of destination management organizations at different geographic levels. The chapter aims to differentiate between destination management and destination marketing. It provides students a deeper understanding of destination management roles. The chapter discusses different types of destination management organizations (DMO) and their governance. Destination management is done by a wide variety of DMOs, ranging from national to city-level organizations. DMOs coordinate the efforts of many stakeholders to achieve the destination’s vision and goals for tourism. DMOs’ roles include leadership and coordination, partnership and team building, community relationships and involvement, visitor management, planning and research, product development, and marketing and promotion. Often, DMOs have programmes for identifying potential new attractions and major facilities such as resorts. For example, Tourism & Events Queensland, the state-level DMO for Queensland, Australia, assists regional destinations to develop Tourism Opportunity Plans that provide guidelines for the sustainable development of tourism.
