Role of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and Challenges Faced

This report analyzes the role of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) in marketing a destination and the challenges they face. It also assesses how marketing principles can be applied to support destination growth and development. The report covers topics such as marketing planning, destination marketing campaigns, digital marketing, and the effectiveness of marketing tools. The case study focuses on marketing Paris as a destination.

Destination
Marketing

Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Assess how marketing principles can be applied to support destination growth and development 1
Evaluation of the way in which principles of marketing planning support the marketing of a
destination....................................................................................................................................1
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of applying principles of marketing planning to market
a destination.................................................................................................................................2
Analyse the key elements of destination marketing campaign........................................................3
Analysis of the key elements of a range of destination marketing campaign examples to
analyse the way in which campaign objectives were met successfully.......................................3
Comparison and contrasting of the key elements of a range of destination marketing
campaigns and evaluation of the degree of inter dependency.....................................................4
Evaluate the role of digital marketing in promoting a destination..................................................4
Review of the different marketing tools used for promoting and advertising a specific
destination....................................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of digital marketing tools in reaching different target
audiences for a specific destination.............................................................................................5
Assess the role of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and the challenges they face....6
Examination of the role and services of DMOs in marketing a destination................................6
Assessment of the challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations..................................7
Critical analysis of the challenges faced by DMOs in successfully meeting destination
marketing objectives....................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be defined as the process of spreading awareness about a product, service
of a place. With the help of it, a large number of individuals get aware of the object which is
marketed. Main purpose of using it is to attract maximum targeted audiences so that the goals
that are formed for future could be met. Destination marketing is the procedure of marketing a
specific destination so that large number of visitors could be attracted (Avraham, 2016). Present
report is based upon analysis of the concept of destination marketing and its importance for
different destinations. A newly appointed marketing consultant at The Destination Marketing
Group which is a London based marketing consultancy. The consultant is assigned a job of
conducting a seminar for destination marketing. All the participants who will be attending will
come from range of DMOs from around the world. All the topics that will be discussed in the
seminar are required to be recorded in a report. It covers various topics such as assessment of the
way in which marketing principles could ne applied to support destination growth and
development, elements of destination marketing campaign etc. Apart from this, evaluation of rile
of digital marketing in promoting a destination along with assessment of the role of DMOs and
challenges that are faced by them are also covered in this assignment.
Assess how marketing principles can be applied to support destination growth
and development
Evaluation of the way in which principles of marketing planning support the marketing of a
destination
Marketing planning: It can be defined as the process of formulating specific strategies
for the purpose of spreading awareness regarding a product, services or a place. It is very
important for all the marketing consultancies such as The Destination Marketing Group to make
sure that all of them are able to form appropriate plans for marketing. There are various
destinations around the world which are Paris, London, Phuket, Rome, Crete, Bali, Barcelona,
Switzerland etc. All of them are tourist destination which are attracting large number of
individuals. In order to attract large number of visitors towards them the marketing consultancies
pay attention towards marketing planning (Bokunewicz and Shulman, 2017). There are various
principles of it which are beneficial for the destination and also support the marketing of a
destination. All of them are described below:
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Strategic analysis: While planning for the marketing of a destination such as Paris it is
very important for the marketing consultants to make sure that they are conducting a strategic
analysis. It can help to find the best ways to market the destination and attract large number of
visitors. If strategic analysis principle will not be followed by the organisations then it may leave
negative impact upon mind set of the targeted audiences as essential information regarding the
place will not be shared with them due to this.
Setting goals: This principle of marketing planning states that while planning to market a
destination such as Paris or Bali it is very important for the marketers to formulate specific
objectives. It can support the whole marketing campaign as it will guide all the individuals who
are working for the plan to perform their jobs for a specific purpose. If objective will not be set
then it may result in confusion as the individuals will not be aware of the goals for which they
are working (Day, 2017).
Proper implementation of strategy: It is one of the main principles of marketing
planning that states that for all the destination consultancies to make sure that they implement the
strategy properly. For example, if The Destination Marketing Group gets a contract to market
London so it will be very important for it to implement the predetermined strategy properly. It
will help to perform all the activities properly. It will also support the whole marketing campaign
which is created for spreading awareness regarding the destination.
While marketing a destination all the above described principles of marketing planning
are required to be focused as it can help to support the marketing campaign and meet the long-
term objectives. If the consultancies are not able to follow these principles then it may affect the
success of business (Garrod and Fyall, 2017).
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of applying principles of marketing planning to market a
destination
While marketing a destination it is very important for the consultancies such as The
Destination Marketing Group to apply marketing planning principles. It can help them to
perform all the predetermined activities properly and reach the objectives properly. If the
principles will not be taken in to consideration then it may leave negative impact upon the
success of the plan which is formulated for marketing the specific destinations such as Paris,
London, Bali etc. By using the principles marketing campaign could eb supported as it will help
to perform activities according to the planning.
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Analyse the key elements of destination marketing campaign
Analysis of the key elements of a range of destination marketing campaign examples to analyse
the way in which campaign objectives were met successfully
Marketing campaigns are the initiatives that are taken by the entities such as The
Destination Marketing Group for the purpose of attracting large number of visitors. Paris is one
of the famous locations around the world and the most attracting destination in the world. There
are various marketing campaigns are conducted for the purpose of attracting large number of
new visitors (Gursoy and Chi, 2018). With the help of them, the number of targeted audiences at
the destination were increased. Some specific campaigns that are focused with the increment of
tourists in Paris are discussed below along with the key elements of the so that it could be
analysed that with the help of them marketing objectives are achieved or not:
London and Paris Campaign: This marketing campaign was conducted to increase the
number of visitors in London and Paris and the agreement was signed by Mayor of London and
Paris. Main aim of it was to deliver an integrated campaign that showcase both the cities to the
visitors around the world. It was designed to inspire the visitors of UK, US and other countries to
visit both the cities on one epic combined trip by using the high-speed Eurostar as the mode of
transportation (London and Paris Campaign, 2020). The results of it were very positive as total
reach of it were 208.4 million, engagements were 46.4 million, value of kind was 1.64 million
etc. Apart from this 52% of the millennials had consider this combined trip. All the key elements
of this campaign which helped to accomplish the goals successfully are as follows:
 The organisers shared the detailed videos about the campaign and trip on the social media
websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Hulu, BuzzFeed etc. With
the help of it, maximum number of targeted audiences who are millennials were aware
about it.
 A huge global reach is created by collaborating with the key campaign partners. It
includes social media, out of home advertising etc. It helped to attract large number of
individuals who got inspired to visit London and Paris.
Mexico Street marketing campaign in Paris: This campaign was organised by
Mexican Volkswagen Beetles so that number of tourists in Paris and Mexico could be increased
and the buyers for the car can also be enhanced. These cars were placed in some strategic places
such as shopping, tourist and business so that documentation on Mexico could be distributed.
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This marketing campaign was very innovative and also resulted positively for Paris as well as
Mexico (Mexico street marketing campaign in Paris, 2020). It has resulted in 462 hours of high
visibility of most attractive places of Paris. Large number of positive comments on the streets
etc.
(Illustration 01: Mexico Street Marketing campaign in Paris, 2020)
(Source: Mexico Street Marketing campaign in Paris, 2020)
The key elements of this campaign are as follows:
 The distance which was covered by the cars was around 1.447 Kilometres throughout
Paris which helped to aware large number of individuals about Mexico and Paris.
 The host distributed 71250 leaflets for the campaign which has also helped to achieve the
objective of sharing information of Mexico and Paris with targeted audiences so that it
can help to increase tourism in both the cities.
Comparison and contrasting of the key elements of a range of destination marketing campaigns
and evaluation of the degree of inter dependency
While conducting the marketing campaigns it is very important for the organisers to make
sure that they are paying attention towards the key elements. As two main campaigns were
conducted to enhance number of tourists in Paris, London and Mexico so the consultancies
which have conducted them focused various elements. These are London and Paris Campaign
and Mexico Street marketing campaign in Paris. The differences between the key elements of
them is that the first campaign was focused with the combined tourism package and another one
was focused with displaying beetle cars in different places of Paris. The similarity between these
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campaigns was the goals and these were concerned with increment of the number of tourists in
London, Mexico and Paris with the help of marketing campaigns.
Evaluate the role of digital marketing in promoting a destination
Review of the different marketing tools used for promoting and advertising a specific destination
Marketing tools are the approaches or techniques that are used by business entities for
different purpose such as advertisement or promotion. In order to spread awareness about a
specific destination it is very important to make sure that right tools are used for the same
purpose. If it is not possible to use them properly then it may result negatively and affect the
marketing campaign in negative manner (Jiang, Ramkissoon and Mavondo, 2016). Some specific
marketing tools that could be used to promote and advertise Paris are as follows:
Email marketing: It is one of the common marketing tools which is used for
advertisement purpose. With the help of it, detailed information about the places to visit in Paris
could be shared with the targeted audiences and they could be inspired to visit those places. By
using it, the consultancies can attract large number of visitors for destinations.
Video Hosting: It is an expensive but effective marketing tool which is used for
advertisement purpose. If it will be used by the marketers of destinations such as Paris then they
can share small video clips or pictures to share information of attractive places of Paris. With the
help of it large number of individuals could be motivated to visit the city.
Social media marketing: This marketing tool is used for promotions and while
marketing a destination it is the best and less expensive medium to reach the targeted audiences.
While marketing Paris, different social media websites could eb used to promote the best places
to visit here. These websites are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest etc.
Search engine optimisation: It is also a promotional technique which is an effective
marketing tool which could be used to maintain a positive market image in the mind of targeted
audiences. By using it ratings of the destination could be improved at search engine. For
example, when a visitor will search the best destinations for holidays then it will reflect the name
of Paris on the top.
All the above described marketing tools are used to advertise and promote a specific
destination. With the help of them, large number of visitors could eb attracted as they will
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facilitate to share detailed information of attracting places at the destination (Li, Robinson and
Oriade, 2017).
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of digital marketing tools in reaching different target
audiences for a specific destination
For all the organisations as well as destinations marketing is very important because with
the help of it, large number of visitors or targeted audiences could eb attracted to meet long term
goals. Some of the specific marketing tools which could be used for the same purpose are social
media marketing, search engine optimisation, email marketing, video hosting etc. All of them are
very effective for a destination to reach the different targeted audiences as all of them could be
used at the world wide platform.
Assess the role of Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) and the
challenges they face
Examination of the role and services of DMOs in marketing a destination
Destination marketing organisations are the entities which are responsible to market
different destinations around the world so that number of visitors for them could be increased. It
is their first priority to make sure that they share detailed information of the destination which
will be marketed by them so that targeted audiences could be attracted (Line and Wang, 2017).
All of them which are working for increment of visitors of Paris have various role and services.
All of them are as follows:
Role of DMOs: All the essential roles that are played by destination marketing
organisations are as follows:
 The main role of DMOs is marketers as they have to make sure that they market all the
attractive place of Paris properly so that number of visitors could be increased.
 Strategy formulator is another role of DMO which is required to be played by it. When a
DMO will be working for the enhancement of tourism in Paris then it will be very
important for it to formulate effective strategies which can help to meet the goals. If a
DMO will not be able to use the appropriate strategy then it may result negatively or
reduce the tourism for the destination (Line and Wang, 2017).
 Selecting best marketing tool for promotion and advertisement of destination is also a
role of DMOs which is required to be played by them properly. For example, when Paris
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will be marketed by a DMO then it will be very important for the entity to use best
suitable technique to market the attractions of the city.
Services of DMOs: There are various types of services that are rendered by DMOs. All
of them are described below:
 Spreading awareness about the destination so that the number of visitors for the same
could be increased.
 Providing best alternative for the issues of lower number of visitors at the destination.
 Adverting the main attractions of the destination so that targeted audiences may get
aware of them and visit those places.
 Facilitate destination to develop their long-term travel and tourism strategy.
Assessment of the challenges faced by DMOs in marketing destinations
Destination marketing organisations may face different types of challenges when they
plan for the marketing of a specific destination. Some of the specific challenges from them are as
follows:
Changes in perception of clients: All the tourists around the world have different
perceptions about the destinations. It gets changed with time and for a DMO it is very important
to make sure that it is aware of it so that the marketing strategy could eb formulated accordingly.
Due to changes in perception of targeted audiences the DMOs are not able to perform their
operations properly (Pike, 2017).
Technological advancement: Technology changes with and gets more advanced. In
order to market a destination such as Paris it is very important for DMOs to make sure that they
are using latest technology. For all of them it is not possible to make modifications in the
marketing strategies with the frequent changes in the technology. Due to this, they face
challenges to reach maximum number of targeted audiences (Okumus and Cetin, 2018).
Cultural barriers: It is one of the main challenges which are faced by DMOs while
marketing a destination like Paris, London, Bali etc. In order to attract large number of visitors
from all over world it is very important for the entities to be aware of culture of all the countries
so that marketing activities could be formulated accordingly. Lack of knowledge about the
culture leaves negative impact upon the activities and result in challenges to meet the goals.
All the above described challenges are faced by destination marketing organisations
which are formulating strategies to market different destinations. It is very important for all of
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them to find best suitable solutions for them so that the predetermined goals could be met
(Pouder, Clark and Fenich, 2018).
Critical analysis of the challenges faced by DMOs in successfully meeting destination marketing
objectives
The main objective of DMOs is to increase the tourism and number of tourists for the
destination which is marketed by them. For this purpose, different activities are performed by
them. These are marketing the attractive places of destination, sharing detailed information of
them with the prospects. While performing all these activities different challenges are faced by
DMOs. These are cultural barriers, changes in technology and perception of targeted audiences.
In order to deal with all of the properly it is very important for DMOs to find best ways to
resolve them.
CONCLUSION
From the above project report, it has been concluded that destination marketing is the
process of spreading awareness about a specific destination among the targeted audiences. It is
very important for all the entities which are involved in such activities to make sure that they are
paying attention towards marketing planning and its principles. Some of them are strategic
analysis, setting goals and proper implementation of strategy. There are various marketing
campaigns that are conducted for the promotion of specific destinations. These are London and
Paris campaign and Mexico Street marketing campaign in Paris. There are various types of
digital marketing tools that are used for advertisement and promotions of the destinations. These
are search engine optimisation, social media marketing, video hosting, email marketing etc.
DMOs are the main entities which are responsible for the marketing of different destinations.
Some specific roles of them are strategy formulator, marketers etc. There are several challenges
that are faced by them while marketing a destination. These are cultural barriers, technology
advancement and changes in perception of visitors.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Avraham, E., 2016. Destination marketing and image repair during tourism crises: The case of
Egypt. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 28. pp.41-48.
Bokunewicz, J. F. and Shulman, J., 2017. Influencer identification in Twitter networks of
destination marketing organizations. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology.
Day, J., 2017. Collaborative Economy and Destination Marketing Organisations: A Systems
Approach. In Collaborative Economy and Tourism (pp. 185-202). Springer, Cham.
Garrod, B. and Fyall, A., 2017. Collaborative destination marketing at the local level: Benefits
bundling and the changing role of the local tourism association. Current Issues in
Tourism. 20(7). pp.668-690.
Gursoy, D. and Chi, C. G. eds., 2018. The Routledge Handbook of Destination Marketing.
Routledge.
Jiang, Y., Ramkissoon, H. and Mavondo, F., 2016. Destination marketing and visitor
experiences: The development of a conceptual framework. Journal of Hospitality
Marketing & Management. 25(6). pp.653-675.
Li, S. C., Robinson, P. and Oriade, A., 2017. Destination marketing: The use of technology since
the millennium. Journal of destination marketing & management. 6(2). pp.95-102.
Line, N. D. and Wang, Y., 2017. A multi-stakeholder market oriented approach to destination
marketing. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 6(1). pp.84-93.
Line, N. D. and Wang, Y., 2017. Market-oriented destination marketing: An
operationalization. Journal of Travel Research. 56(1). pp.122-135.
Okumus, B. and Cetin, G., 2018. Marketing Istanbul as a culinary destination. Journal of
Destination Marketing & Management. 9. pp.340-346.
Pike, S. D., 2017. Destination marketing organisations (DMO). In Sage Handbook of Tourism
Management. SAGE.
Pouder, R. W., Clark, J. D. and Fenich, G. G., 2018. An exploratory study of how destination
marketing organizations pursue the sports tourism market. Journal of Destination
Marketing & Management. 9. pp.184-193.
Online
London and Paris Campaign. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.londonandpartners.com/what-we-do/london-and-paris-campaign>
Mexico street marketing campaign in Paris. 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.travelconsul.com/interface-tourism-group/mexico-street-marketing-
campaign-paris>
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