MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE ON REGIONAL MARKETING ACTIVITIES OF DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATIONS (DMOs)

Abstract

Destination management is an important competitive marketing method for global tourism destinations. Especially when cooperated with image and brand management it helps destinations to stand out from today's severe crowd of competition. The successful and efficient destination management companies usually play a major role in marketing their destinations but there exists a conflict in literature on the level of involvement in related marketing activities. Though managing an autonomous organization having its' own budget and freedom in decision making seems to be the best solution to meet the rapidly changing trends and needs of global tourists it needs to be analyzed within the organizations' managerial level. The aim of this article is to determine the perspectives of DMO managers from the most important two destinations in Turkey which is a very popular country that is usually in the first 10 in the international tourism market. The destinations chosen are Istanbul and Izmir which by using destination management within the last 10 years were able to become popular global brands in the world market by increasing their share rapidly.