Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend the Phocuswright Analyst Forum in New York City. The presentation of most relevance to Destination Marketing Organizations was Swaying the Undecided: The Impact of Destination Marketing on Consumer Travel Choices, by Lorraine Sileo, Vice President, Research, for PhoCusWright.
Lorraine’s presentation revolved around the results of a recent study to help determine where DMOs fit into the travel process based on actual consumer behavior, and what they can do to remain viable organizations in the coming decade. While there were many interesting findings, including compelling demographic data supporting the value of the DMO customer and a clear indication of what DMO website features consumers value most, one finding made was a clear mandate:
DMOs play a vital role in the dreaming phase
(when consumers choose a destination)
and they have the most work to do in this area.
The challenge is that consumers are looking to DMOs, more than any other online source, for inspiration. Consumers go to DMO websites in search of wanderlust - a compelling story behind the destination that create desires, and depth of information to help them plan their trips. Their website feature usage patterns confirm this.
The disconnect is that DMOs are increasingly finding themselves having to justify their existence by finding direct links between their marketing efforts to actual visits. This is in direct conflict with what consumers are looking for from DMOs, and could be setting the DMO up to look like the role they play in the travel planning process is of limited value.
Consider this:Even though many DMOs have invested in adding booking engines to their sites, those investments had limited ROI. When it comes to booking their trips, the vast majority of consumers choose to use OTAs, hotel sites and offline booking over DMO sites - except when packages and deep discounts were offered.
