The Destination Management Organization (DMO), in English, is known as Destination Management Organization or DMO. But the same acronym, in English, is used for a type of destination management that focuses exclusively on destination marketing, we talk about Destination Marketing Organization.
Over the years, the need to scale the spectrum of DMO action from the meaning of marketing to the management or comprehensive management of the tourist territory has become evident.
And destination management has multiple aspects, which justifies that the technical teams are multidisciplinary and capable of taking on different challenges at the destination.
The OGD does not necessarily have to be the executor of processes, it rather functions as a manager of interventions by specialized state institutions or other types of organizations. Let's look at some of the responsibilities of the OGD:
1. Planning of the tourist destination. A fundamental issue because having a development strategy is essential to understand where and how the territory will develop as a tourist space. This is a document that must be the product of participation processes, open and taking into consideration the opinions and suggestions of the links in the tourism value chain. The vision of the destination is the heart of this strategy as it determines where we want to take tourism development and the time for it. Having the vision, it is possible to determine how to get there, defining the so-called strategic lines.
An example is Miches, which has determined that the tourist profile of this emerging destination must be aimed at an offer based on luxury and sustainability. But what is needed to get there? It should not only be defined from the perspective of the hotel sector, but also considering the perspective of the transportation, agricultural, artisanal, local and central government, communities, etc. sectors. But it is clearly an example of vision to pursue Miches as a luxury and sustainable destination.
That is why planning is required and this is where the OGD must intervene, seeking participation and harmonizing opinions around this vision. Here, the OGD must promote public-private dialogue tables from which these processes emerge that feed the strategic lines, financing, and monitoring, to achieve this vision.
2. But the tourism development strategy must be in line with the territorial planning plan (POT), comprehensive and tourist land use plan (POTT), which is coherent with the tourism development strategy. These POT and POTTs must have their regulations clearly established and published in order to be adopted by the public, private and community sectors of the territory. Failure to achieve this causes conflicting, dissonant developments in the destinations that affect the tourist experience, or the real capabilities of the territory are not taken into account: how do I promote 10 thousand hotel rooms when the community does not have water?
The Organization Law exists in our country. The mission of the OGD is to ensure that these POT and POTTs are carried out in line with the development vision of the aforementioned Strategy, also considering the government's comprehensive development plans and in respect of the national development strategy (END).
3. Below these two fundamental sections, a series of fundamental aspects begin to emerge in the territory, which must be assumed by the OGD as a managing entity, always in conjunction with the public and private sectors, the so-called dialogue table:
3.a. Investment attraction program, creating, for example, specific incentive conditions for them (e.g. Pedernales Trust).
3.b. Support programs for the creation of human capital in accordance with the Strategy. Returning to the case of Miches as an example, a lot of training must be done on issues of excellence in service, if the vision is luxury and sustainability. The OGD can manage the support of the National Institute of Professional Technical Training (Infotep), the Vice Ministry of Quality of the Ministry of Tourism (Mitur), the academy, among others.
3.c. Environmental sustainability programs, where topics such as environmental education, access and rational use of water, conservation of protected spaces, solid waste management, ecosystem regeneration (mangroves, beaches, etc.) are considered. The OGD can manage the support of the Ministry of the Environment, INAPA, FEDOMU, among others.
3.d. Support programs for MSMEs, as they are fundamental in the dynamics of the territory’s offer (artisans, excursion operators, others).
3.e. Accessibility programs, the OGD can manage the support of CONADIS.
3.f. Security programs, where the OGD must manage the support of the security forces. Although we must understand that security is comprehensive and ranges from road safety, to civil security, to food security, etc.
3.g. Resilience programs. Tourist destinations are vulnerable to externalities such as climate change or global economic crises. There are preventive and adaptation actions that can be promoted by the OGD in the territory.
3.h. Market intelligence programs. Where the DMO must understand who their potential clients are, what they are looking for, what their satisfaction levels were during their visit, or simply how the competition works. This helps to implement continuous innovation and improvement actions.
3.i. Promotion programs
3.j. Smart Destinations Programs
3.K. Tourist information in the territory and outside the territory. Here we must consider the management of tourist information.
3.L. The rescue and strengthening of cultural identity through sustainable gastronomy, cultural experiences, enhancement of local cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, among others. Here the OGD can be assisted by the Ministry of Culture.
3.M. Cultural entertainment programs
3.N. Design and follow-up of a plan for continuous monitoring and evaluation of the development of the territory through sustainability indicators (measuring socioeconomic impacts, cultural impacts, environmental impacts, and even the management of the OGD itself).
3.O. Programs to strengthen local agricultural and fishing production to satisfy tourism demand. The OGD can manage the support of the FEDA or the Ministry of Agriculture, CODOPESCA, among others.
3.P. Road signs.
3.Q. International certifications, environmental seals, quality seals (ISO, TOURCERT, GREEN GLOBE, BLUE FLAG, RAIN FOREST, etc.).
3.R. and so on, a long etc…
These are just some of the functions that a DMO of a tourist destination should or could assume, as a management unit. This broad list of functions is what justifies the participation of the value chain, the public sector and the local community, since in some way, they are all interconnected in the territory.
In our country we have several tourist centers, some with a cultural profile (such as Ciudad Colonial or Puerto Playa), others with a sun and beach profile (such as Punta Cana), others with a nature and adventure offer profile (such as Jarabacoa), some mature and other emerging ones (Pedernales or Miches), others in development (such as Samaná). They all have something in common, there is no OGD. It is an important challenge, because the experience of these management units at the international level has demonstrated their effectiveness in the systematic improvement of the territories since there is a real interlocutor that can and should work with state institutions, with local governments, with communities and the private sector, with cooperation agencies, with academia. If it has worked and is working in other countries with positive results…we are sure that it can work in the centers of the Dominican Republic!
WEAR: People interested in obtaining more information on the topic of Destination Management can write to lisettegil68@gmail.com
