The Gold Standard provides a foundation for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) to reach out and cultivate relationships with potential visitors and residents before, during and after they visit. It provides the most efficient and cost effective means to reach potential customers, and it makes them it easier for them to buy. Resources invested in destination awareness, increasing sales, or marketing convention and meeting facilities are at least partly wasted when a DMO is not Gold Standard compliant.
When the Gold Standard is woven and integrated into the management of destination marketing organizations, those DMOs have the potential to achieve their full economic potential. They fulfill their obligation to constituents and, in the case of tax-supported DMOs, they accomplish their duty to local taxpayers and visitors who pay taxes by promoting all potential venues a potential visitor or resident can experience based on their budget and available time using an objectively weighted, clear cut methodology.
Destination marketing organizations that recognize the shift in the industry towards individual consumers in making travel decisions realize that the mass approach to promoting destinations is much less effective than before. Today’s travelers invest precious time and energy to contact and review dozens of sources to fashion the experience they think they want. DMOs can simplify the task by packaging all the information they need to consider in one place and by making it fast and easy to obtain.
The Gold Standard ensures that DMOs remain the most relevant and indisputable travel authority within their market area. Unless DMOs step up to assume the role of one-stop-shop travel information agencies, what differentiates their efforts from other travel maps, tour books, visitor centers, visitor guides and websites? DMOs should be the ultimate destination authority in their market, and gold standard protocols ensure they consistently excel in providing all the information visitors need today and will need in the future.
DMO Gold Standard™ is a trademark of Doug Traub. All rights reserved.