What is a Destination Management Company? 

  • 1 month ago

If you work in the travel industry, DMCs can be valuable allies to deliver a prime experience to your tourist groups. Let’s give them a closer look! 

One of the principles of working in tourism is that the best experiences are not obvious to find. Sure, it is easy to take tourists straight to the Eiffel Tower or to the Brandenburg Gate, but who hasn’t done that? That can also explain why there are endless lines to visit such monuments. 

Now, there are so many exciting locations around the world that it might be difficult, to say the last, for one person to know how to plan tours to all of them. What if there was an easy solution to that? Without further ado, we are going to introduce Destination Management Companies! 

What is a DMC? 

Destination management company services are specific for every popular tourism location. In short, they know all attractions available in that area and build all the necessary connections that one would need to book visits to them. DMCs effectively make tourism happen, in a way. 

Besides helping you book tours for your group, the DMC can help in terms of infrastructure for your own services. They can book accommodations, schedule vehicle rentals, and much more in that regard. Since those possibilities are so diverse, we are going to give them a closer look. 

Who works with the DMC? 

In essence, any company in the tourism industry. While the travel agency gathers tourists, who will be the end consumers, DMCs plans what to offer at the destination they picked. This way, those partners can specialize at their respective fields and provide the best possible service. 

Normally, tourists only deal with the travel agency. Since destination management companies are smaller and local, they are usually unknown outside of their region. The best strategy is for the travel agency to sell and support all services to the tourist groups using only its own name. 

What does the DMC do? 

Now that we have covered the basic information, we can move on to details. Most DMCs offer a variety of services, but they are usually limited to one destination. Here, we are going to see the most common ones and why they are important to you when organizing tourism services. 

Local venues

If your clients need a location for their event, why would you waste time searching on Google? Your DMC surely has a list of options, all of them categorized according to capacity, address, and the facilities they offer. They can also assist you with booking and decorating the venue.

Transportation solutions

DMCs can assist your group right from when they step foot at the destination. Airport shuttles, bus schedules, city tours, even discounts on ride-hailing apps. By providing those services, a destination management company keeps the tour’s itinerary on track and mitigates problems.

Event management

The DMC can also take charge of hiring professionals for the event and managing them. This is quite handy because it allows you to deal with only the event manager. Each person can make better use of their time and there will be no leadership redundancies to confound the workers.

Leisure time

No one wants to waste time searching where to go on a Saturday night. DMCs can create a list of suitable options based on the group’s demographics, budget, and available time. That will leave a great impression on the clients; it shows that you took care of everything in their tour.

Contingency management

Some tours need a special permit. Some restaurants need to be booked far in advance. Some events may have a secret side entrance. DMC specialists work with that all the time, so they can handle it for you. This way, your clients will get access to their events without any barriers.

Why should I hire a DMC? 

At a first glance, it is easy to think that anyone could do those services. That would only be true in theory; DMCs make it easy and simple because they have been doing that for a long time. In this topic, we are going to view what makes their approach to such tasks much more effective. 

Local expertise

Local expertise

Your DMC works with local people. Not only are they fluent in the local language, but they also know what time of the year is better for each activity, what areas are more violent, what places are cheaper to eat, and so on. They are infinitely more reliable than any AI-based review pages.

Local connections

Local connections

Caterers, drivers, tour guides… Only locals have a list of hospitality workers to recommend for your group. Since DMC specialists usually work with the same ones all the time, they can also get exclusive perks such as high-ranked professionals, priority booking and/or special rates.

Time and cost savings

Time and cost savings

Another benefit comes from the simple fact of relaying some tasks to a third party. While your DMC takes care of those last-mile tasks, you can focus on others. You will be able to organize each tour in less time and, as a result, become available to cater to more clients each month.

Anything else I should know? 

After covering so many details, we are left with general recommendations. You should search for older DMCs, since they are more experienced, and try to concentrate all your requests on only one. It is also crucial to inform those requests to the DMC in as much detail as possible. 

In other words, you must be a serious client to attract a serious DMC. By making yourself clear at all times, you will minimize misinterpretation from either side, get precise services based on what the client group needs, and be able to fight for your rights in case something goes wrong. 

Are destination management companies worth it? 

Of course! You can save time and money by relaying some tasks to another company, and you can get peace of mind by knowing that those tasks will be accomplished with excellence. The expertise of a competent DMC can take your group’s tourism experience to a whole new level! 

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