New Industry-LedLocal Tourism Bodies
Once foreign tourists have chosen Britain, or when domestic tourists decide to take a ‘staycation’ holiday here instead, we will need strong and independent local tourism bodies to promote our different destinations effectively. The problem is that, while there are some notably capable and highly respected local Tourism Bodies (often called Destination Management Organisations, or DMOs, in industry jargon), the industry is clear that there are some which have lost their way too. The best examples tend to work as respected partners with local tourism firms, who are happy to work alongside because they can measure the impact of their local tourism body’s marketing activities on their revenues. The worst are expensive talking shops which achieve very little, or ‘civic pride’ marketing organisations whose campaigns are better at massaging committee members’ egos than driving footfall and boosting sales for local tourism attractions.
Clearly it’s important we have as many high-quality and respected local tourism bodies as possible. So we will modernise and update local tourism bodies to become focused and efficient Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) which are led by and, increasingly, funded through partnership with the tourism industry itself.14