Agreeing to plan together

Destination management is a process of leading, influencing and coordinating the management of all the aspects of a destination that contribute to a visitor’s experience, taking account of the needs of visitors, local residents, businesses and the environment.

A Destination Management Plan (DMP) is a shared statement of intent to manage a destination over a stated period of time, articulating the roles of the different stakeholders and identifying clear actions that they will take and the apportionment of resources. In these definitions, ‘manage’ and ‘management’ are taken in their widest sense; crucially, destination management includes the planning, development and marketing of a destination as well as how it is managed physically, financially, operationally and in other ways. Broadly, a DMP is equivalent to a destination’s Tourism Strategy and/or Action Plan.

A DMP needs to be recognised as ‘the’ plan for the visitor economy in a destination, including by all relevant stakeholders who will be involved in its delivery.  Where a Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) exists or is emerging, it should lead and oversee the development of the DMP and its implementation.

A DMP is different to an LVEP’s own business plan. Simply put, the DMP focuses on the destination and is more external in focus whereas an LVEP’s business plan focuses internally on the organisation itself.

DMPs should cover all the fundamental aspects of destination management, including:

• Tourism performance and impacts;
• Governance, delivery structures and communication;
• Overall appeal and appearance, access, infrastructure and visitor services;
• Destination image, branding and promotion (marketing);
• Product mix, including development needs and opportunities;
• Business support offer;
• Staffing, skills and careers;
• Government priorities for the visitor economy, such as accessibility and inclusivity, sustainability, innovation and business events;
• Commercial opportunities incl. bookable product, sales and distribution.

Typically, a DMP would:

• Outline ambitions and targets for the destination over period of up to 5 years;
• Contain prioritised actions within an annual rolling programme, identifying stakeholders responsible for their delivery.

• Address fragmentation: The visitor economy involves a range of experiences delivered by many organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors. It is essential that they work together to achieve a better use and management of resources.
• Recognise, strengthen and coordinate different functions: Supporting the visitor economy is not just about promotion but about a whole range of activities aimed at strengthening the quality of the visitor experience and the performance of businesses.
• Manage and monitor impacts: Tourism has a range of impacts on society and the environment and is inherently an activity that benefits from management.
• Prioritise and allocate resources: Identify the real needs and priorities and allocate financial and human resources effectively.
• Win more support and resources: A well-researched, argued and presented DMP can strengthen the case for funding and help to identify projects for support. A new funding toolkit is available to support with this.

Fundamentally a DMP will articulate the overall importance of the visitor economy to the destination, its role in place-shaping and its contribution to the wider local economy. It plays a very important role in identifying how the full range of local authority policies and services (in planning, transport, environmental management, leisure and recreation, culture and the arts) can support the visitor economy on the one hand, and be supported by it on the other:

• By strengthening the visitor economy, services enjoyed by local people such as restaurants, attractions, arts and entertainment will benefit.
• Additionally, actions directly aimed at making somewhere a better place to live and work will also make it a more appealing place to visit.
• Strengthening and promoting the image and awareness of a destination and the services available can be highly important in attracting new business and investment across all sectors.
• Tourism has demonstrated its ability to stimulate job growth and is a relatively accessible sector in which to start a new business.

As a result of the implementation of the De Bois review of Destination Management Organisations, the destination landscape of England is changing.

The ambition of the review was to reduce fragmentation in the DMO landscape and create a portfolio of strong, sustainable destination organisations. These are named Local Visitor Economy Partnerships (LVEPs), which will work alongside VisitBritain/VisitEngland to deliver local and national visitor economy growth priorities. The review emphasises the need for DMOs to be given a more prominent role in decision-making processes and be adequately resourced to fulfil their responsibilities effectively. As such, all LVEPs need to have a DMP for the geography they represent.

The DMP needs to be managed by the LVEP as the recognised strategic tourism organisation, however the LVEP will not deliver all elements of the DMP. They will work in partnership with all key stakeholders in the destination – both public and private sector – and the DMP needs to clearly define roles and responsibilities as part of that.

The LVEP will work with all the DMOs in their geography as part of this. It may be that a DMO covering a smaller geography within an LVEP requires a distinct plan for their specific destination; separate DMPs can be prepared at all levels, as needed. However, it is important that they relate strongly to each other across the levels. Alternatively, the single LVEP-led DMP could have elements within it that address smaller destinations.

In some areas of the country, groups of DMOs or local authorities are coming together to form a partnership LVEP. Where this is the case, it is important that the partnership has a joint DMP for their geography. In the short term, this could take the form of a framework which brings together existing DMPs for the destinations within the new LVEP geography. The aim is for each LVEP to have one DMP that all partners subscribe to.

Where an area has a Destination Development Partnership (DDP) in place, it is important to align the DDP’s strategic ambitions with those of the relevant LVEPs in the area to ensure join-up and maximise opportunities.

The LVEP should be responsible for leading the development of the DMP, while the plan will provide the context for its work – i.e. it should be seen as a roadmap for the LVEP and other stakeholders in the destination. The preparation of a DMP must involve:

• Private sector – representative bodies and key tourism enterprises;
• Local authorities and, where relevant, Combined Authorities covering the following key departments/functions: economic development; tourism and recreation; arts, culture and heritage; planning; transport; environment and countryside. Some destinations will involve more than one authority, and all should be engaged;
• Civil society and voluntary interests (community, civic and environmental);
• Wider economic partners that are influenced by or have influence on tourism;
• Cultural and heritage partners;
• VisitEngland, or the LVEP (if the plan is for a smaller destination).

A balance of the above interests should be reflected at three levels of engagement in the preparation of a DMP:

• DMP Steering Group – a small overseeing body that meets regularly;
• Key stakeholder participants – involved in all meetings and processes that shape and agree on the DMP;
• Wider stakeholders – organisations, businesses and individuals surveyed and consulted. It is very important that the private sector plays a leadership role in developing the DMP and not simply be consulted.

Before the DMP development begins, work to prepare should include:

• Bringing key stakeholders together to agree on a DMP, its purpose, coverage and the process that will be followed;
• Setting up the programme of work, identifying a leader, establishing a Steering Group, agreeing tasks and potentially appointing consultants;
• Possibly holding an initial kick-off event or workshop;
• Announcing the exercise and handling relations with the media.

This period should involve some early consideration of the context and background to the DMP, including:

• The local and national policy and strategy context, including relationship to national Government priorities and the emerging visitor economy strategy for England;
• Past and current work on the visitor economy in the area;
• The current stakeholder structures and engagement processes;
• Key issues and priorities already apparent that the DMP will need to address.