Fuzzy formal concept analysis to detect DMO’s strategic patterns towards sustainability

Requirements for destination management organizations in destination governance: Understanding DMO success

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the online communication strategies used by destination management organizations (DMOs) during a terrorist attack. In particular, this study analyzes Twitter use during seven terrorism incidents in six European cities (Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin, London and Barcelona) between 2015 and 2017. Design/methodology/approach Twitter content was collected via NCapture, a web browser extension of NVivo, one week prior to the attacks, the day of, and two weeks following to determine the timeframe in which DMOs communicated about the crisis, the types of messages being communicated, and whether these messages are effective. This study uses Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory as a guide to analyzing the effectiveness of the crisis communication strategies. Findings The findings of this paper indicate that DMOs are not effectively using Twitter during a terrorist attack. Few tweets relating to the attacks provided tourists with information regarding their safety, with the remaining only communicating as victims. Many DMOs went offline in the days immediately following the attacks and each DMO’s crisis communication on Twitter only lasted up to one week following the attacks. Originality/value This study provides insight into the ways DMOs are using social media for crisis communication. These results inform DMOs on their responsibility in communicating information during a terrorist attack. Messages of support are useful in the recovery stage, but tourists need information on how to stay safe and Twitter is often the first source people go to for information (Simon et al. , 2014).

The Baby Boomer generation has been the focus of a great deal of analysis in the travel industry, the millennial generation is now surpassing this segment in garnering more attention. This study shed light on the millennials as the forthcoming tourist demand to assist the destination management organizations (DMOs) better understand their needs and expectations to address them with the right product using the right means of communication. In this perspective, the study focuses on the DMOs' websites as a main marketing tool for delivering the marketing message to the millennials. It investigates the alignment between these websites and the millennials’ prospects. Results reveal that the DMOs' websites are still not ready to fulfill the millennials' expectations and that there is a significant difference between these websites and the millennials' prospects regarding the content and performance.

Destination Management Organizations’ websites are very important tools since they allow direct communication with the traveler worldwide and provide information at every step of the “customer journey”. Complementary to websites, presence in Social Media Platforms, enhances interactive communication with tourists, enables usage of user-generated content and helps better understanding what are the travelers’ perception about the destination. We use a model to evaluate the quality and digital presence of two Greek regions, namely Crete and South Aegean. The model was properly adjusted for a single evaluator to grade local governmental destination websites. In addition, a reputable online tool was used to evaluate their pages or profiles on Social Media Platforms to formulate a complete picture of their digital presence in destination management. In both Crete and South Aegean regions, the majority of websites dedicated to destination promotion received nearly half of the excellent grade; the empirical evidence indicated that YouTube was the best utilized platform (over 65% of channels received a B- to C- rating). Almost 35% of FB pages got B-, the highest grade for Instagram profiles was C+ (close to 55% of the profiles), and for Twitter profiles, it was C (20% of them).

Sustainable tourism development asks for coordinated and collective action where destination management organisations (DMOs) are considered a crucial steering stakeholder. The aim of this study is to explore the current state of implementation of the internationally renowned destination sustainability standards from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in Alpine destinations (Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Italy). Drawing from a survey (n = 80) with destination managers, it explores (1) the attributed importance, (2) the self-assessed level of implementation, as well as (3) the expected future importance of the GSTC criteria. Despite the indicated importance, the degree of implementation lags significantly behind. This lack of implementation is critical, especially since the DMOs attach even greater importance to these issues in the future. Further research needs to address how to close the identified gap between the perceived importance and actual implementation to advance in this urgent challenge of sustainable transformation.

ABSTRACTThe emergence of social media and Web 2.0 has a notable impact upon the tasks of destination managers as these platforms have developed into influential mechanisms affecting tourist behaviour. This paper shows how Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) can reap the benefits of the Web 2.0 revolution as it serves as an important source of user-generated information, bringing novel opportunities for data-driven destination management. To test the applicability of user-generated content for destination management, this paper analyses restaurant reviews from five Flemish art cities which were retrieved from the Web 2.0 platform TripAdvisor. Getis-Ord hot spot analysis revealed spatial clusters of frequently (‘hot spots’) and rarely (‘cold spots’) reviewed restaurants in four out of the five art cities. By comparing these spatial patterns, the digital footprints of tourists were uncovered and discussed with DMO directors. Found patterns appeared to reflect local policies aimed either at concentrating tourism, as in Bruges, the city with the most prominent hot spot, or spreading tourism over time and space as seen in Antwerp and Ghent where less prominent hot spots were present. The visualization proved to be a valuable input when discussing tourism management and fuelled the sharing of knowledge between the destinations.

The purpose of this study was to determine the promotional activities and the factors that affect Toraja Destination Management Organization (DMO) in promoting the attractions in Toraja. This study uses qualitative descriptive analysis. Data collection methods used were interviews, observation and documentation. The results showed that the Toraja Destination Management Organization (DMO) can not be separated from the promotion mix. The five forms of promotion mix, not all do. Forms of promotion mix done of personal selling, advertising, public relations, and direct marketing, while the use of a variety of intensive not do. Additionally, Toraja Destination Management Organization (DMO) has moved towards the process of Integrated Marketing Communications Integrated Marketing Communication or that include the coordination efforts of the various elements of promotional and other marketing activities. Meanwhile, a supporting factor comes from two aspects, internal and external, internal refers to the performance and creativity as well as measures of innovative Toraja Destination Management Organization (DMO), while factors external support in the form of support from other parties who deal directly in the world of tourism , While inhibiting factor is the gap between the readiness of tourism development with incessant promotion that has been done is not effective.

Determinants of tourism success for DMOs & destinations: An empirical examination of stakeholders' perspectives

Gamified mobile experiences offer several potential benefits to Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), such as encouraging engagement, enhancing experiences, improving loyalty, or increasing brand awareness of tourists. Moreover, they also offer a new source of interesting information about tourists. However, examples of DMOs applying gamification for the on-site phase of the trip, validation of its impact and exploitation of information gathered from gamified mobile experiences are still lacking. This paper focuses on these issues, presenting a gamified mobile experience generated by three DMOs and validated by real tourists in two villages of the Basque Country during seven weeks. Data obtained both from tourists and from an analytics tool integrated with the mobile experience have been analysed, highlighting the benefits of gamified experiences and the relevance of analytics tools for DMOs.

This empirically based paper addresses the knowledge gap on destination leadership practices in destination management in the context of strategy implementation. The research focuses on tourism management and strategy implementation as an upper level competence at the national level of destination management in Estonia. In-depth interviews with national level destination managers explore how destination leadership is conceptualised, operationalised, and executed. Findings demonstrate the central role of destination management organisations (DMOs) and the inherent requirement for leadership on their part; the crucial importance of communication and cooperation in stakeholder management within strategic destination development; and the importance of leadership skills in the selection and appointment of destination management practitioners at the national level.

As the tourism sector is continually evolving, touristic destinations and service providers should give close and thoughtful attention to customers’ satisfaction, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Tourism for Greece represents one of the most valuable pillars of the economy and the impact of the pandemic to the sector and GDP will be significant. In this era, it is evident the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals and effective Destination Management that will take into consideration all aspects of the local communities. Customer satisfaction is crucial to improving strategies that destinations must follow to service quality and satisfaction management strategies. Recent consumer and technological trends make customer satisfaction more important than ever. This paper aims to investigate the characteristics, preferences, images, satisfaction levels, and the overall experience gained by the tourists visiting Lesvos island in the North Aegean Region Greece. Primary research was conducted and the airport of the island during departure in 2019. The useful gathered questionnaires (201) provided helpful information to the island’s DMO related to the visitors’ demographic characteristics, destination perception, awareness and competitiveness, satisfaction and overall experience. The basic research findings were the strong impression of the visitors about the authenticity of the destination. They also believe that prices are excellent and the rate of value for money is high. At the same time, visitors think that the island is not promoted very good and the image/brand of the island is not very clear and well defined. It is the first research conducted to visitors departing from Lesvos island to the authors’ best knowledge. The results and discussion of this study will be useful to the islands’ DMO and the island’s tourism authorities and the North Aegean Region and other similar island destinations, which wish to maximize the benefits of tourism development. Keywords: Destination Management Organization, Destination Image, Branding, Visitor Satisfaction, Experience.

In these competitive times for tourism marketing, “place branding” has become an essential element of a tourist destination’s success, an element of market differentiation with respect to rival tourist areas. Place branding captures the attention of potential tourists using experiential marketing; it creates destination loyalty using techniques such asheritage interpretationto create unique and memorable experiences for visitors. A memorable tourism experience may produce repeat visits and word-of-mouth or active social web promotion of the destination. Heritage interpretation communicates information to visitors and tourists about the sites and destinations they visit. An interpretive plan specifies exactly how heritage interpretation will be used to communicate with potential visitors using oral, written and digitally communicated language. A well-constructed plan is necessary in order to generate tourist income responsibly and sustainably for local communities. This article examines the value-added roles heritage interpretation and interpretive planning play in experiential marketing and in destination management as a whole. It looks at interpretation at the personal on-site level and as used on the internet. The goal of place branding is to allow communities to function as their own destination management organizations and to exert control over their most valuable economic resources, their intangible heritage: landscape, ecosystem, and traditional way of life. The general framework considered is responsible geotourism, designed to improve the quality of life for the host and the quality of experience for the tourist.

This qualitative exploratory study examined the effectiveness of organizational resilience processes adopted by Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) during a global crisis. Study results showed that the DMOs’ organizational resilience engaged strategies fostered within a positive work climate (PWC) where dynamic processes of resilience capabilities emerged for Caribbean SIDS. These organizational resilience processes are complex and dynamic, with an interplay of both internal and external influences. The study offers practical and theoretical implications for public organizations in the service sector, where an integrated framework for engaging resilience strategies and capabilities processes emerges.

The research aimed to explore whether ecolabels could be used as innovation tools to achieve sustainable tourism development (STD) at the level of a tourist destination. The paper used results obtained by a questionnaire survey among destination management organizations (DMOs) in cities and municipalities to investigate how much ecolabels are used at the level of tourist destinations in a case study of the Republic of Croatia (in 2017 and 2021). DMOs were chosen as the subject of research due to their crucial role in the development of tourist destinations. The findings from the linear research indicate that DMOs in Croatia still do not recognize the importance and role of implementation of tourist ecolabels as an innovation tool in achieving sustainable tourism development at the destination level. The paper provides new theoretical insights into the application of ecolabels at the level of cities and municipalities as tourist destinations. Thus, it could induce future research by scholars in this field because an analysis of academic literature indicates that there is a lack of such research. Moreover, the results given by this research could provide a basis for DMOs to start to think in a different way about the application of ecolabels at the level of a tourist destination.

Pangandaran is one of the tourist destinations in Indonesia which has developed and has fairly strategic potential to encourage the regional and state economy. The rapid development of tourism in Pangandaran turned out to cause various problems. This is due to the lack of synergy among the roles of stakeholders involved in Pangandaran tourism management. In 2010, the Destination Management Organization (DMO) concept was implemented as an effort to improve the tourism destination governance in Pangandaran. This concept emphasizes the form of collaboration among stakeholders from community groups, the private sectors, and the government. The collaboration is led by the destination management organization (DMO) which serves as mediator, facilitator, and coordinator among the three stakeholder groups. This research is conducted in Pangandaran Village using mixed method which combines quantitative and qualitative research methods aimed to analyze the stakeholders who are involved in tourism destination governance in Pangandaran based on the DMO concept. From the results of the study, it is found that there are ten stakeholders who have high involvement on the tourism destination governance in Pangandaran. All of them have high level of interest and power, but there is one stakeholder who has high interest but low power in DMO-based tourism destination governance collaboration