“At the end of the day, nobody but the DMCs can provide the best preferential rates
for travel-trade services.”
A DMC (Destination Management Company) provides extensive local destination knowledge
and work as the extension of your travel agency. Going by their job responsibilities, any
DMC is responsible for offering logistic services in their destination ranging from meet and
greet options, transfers, hotel accommodation, themed events, conference venues, multiple
dining options etc. They need to be trusted at both creative and professional levels.
At the end of the day, nobody but the DMCs can provide the best preferential rates for travel-
trade services. A professional DMC will update itself on the latest education, standards, and
practices within the DMC industry. Maintaining and bringing excellence and ethical business
practices is what is essential to survive in this competitive tourism segment. Apart from the
intangible qualifications, the following quotients are necessary to choose before ranking
someone as a reliable DMC.
1. Relevant Experience
It is essential that your DMC should be efficient in dealing with itinerary creation which
serves as the key component of staying organized and making it attractive to the first-time
tourists. Screen your DMC whether they have sold similar tours and activities you are
looking for. Also, focus on the marketing and service strengths to know how to strategize the
tour plans. It would not be any way wise to partner with a DMC who is not sure of the
demand from their customer base. For a DMC, industry knowledge is imperative for planning
events, travel, and meetings.
2. Financial Stability
Overseas business needs to be done with much care and caution. Sometimes the
condescending attitude of the international clientele can be cleared through discussions like
whether they have any history of working with similar tour operators or what are their
financial resources and credit worthiness.
3. Solid Partnerships
Strong, long-standing partnerships with clients and retail travel agents will make the vacation
experience smoother for the tourists. This is all the more essential for the overseas partners
to ensure end-to-end, high-quality travel service.
4. Contacts
One of the primary responsibilities for a destination management company is to execute the
tourism plans and for this they need to be well connected to meet the expectations of your
clients and get you repeat business. It’s therefore important to know how many and what
types of local service providers they are connected to, whether it’s hotels, ground
transportation companies, activity providers or even government bodies.
5. Adequate Resources
A destination management company is expected to handle the entire aspect of the social
calendar of the client. To get the most out of your DMC, make sure to check what that DMC
specializes in the expected range of services.
6. Check whether they are destination marketer
Local knowledge and expertise are the major selling points of any DMC. However, what
makes one DMC better than the other is how they deploy their local expertise on tourism
strategies. A good DMC should be able to create demand for their destination which would
be wrapped in innovative activities.
When and how to use a DMC?
DMCs are particularly useful in case of MICE trips. While organizing such trips to an
unfamiliar location, especially in an overseas destination, a DMC is what you cannot but take
help from. They are the best to organize the conferences, conventions, exhibitions, meetings
etc. with sources of credible local suppliers and negotiable budgets.
Imagine you and your team trying to manage an unexpected error in organizing an entirely
strange location with currency, language, custom barriers. To avoid this nightmarish
condition, trust a DMC. Taking care of event management, promotional staff, security, etc. is
much more cost effective in terms of transportation and accommodation by a DMC than for a
foreign travel agent.
Familiarization tours (FAMs for short) are a great scope to get to know the tour operators,
DMOs, and travel agents. Specializing in designing and implementing corporate programs,
DMCs travel services range from leisure to business applications as well as online to
personal.
Strategic marketing of a state at any foreign country can no way be developed to the master
skill standard as that of a DMC. Working with industry and government contacts, DMCs can
offer small and medium-sized businesses in toolkits. The final cost of the travel package
along with the value-added components still would be lesser if compared to that of the travel
agent’s budget.
Community Destination Marketing Organizations
Travel services for CDMOs generally offer services such as specific destination packages,
hotel search engines, events and festival listings and other information with potential visitors
interests. Sometimes, these similar services are offered by local chamber of commerce or
economic development office in absence of a CDMO.
A plethora of customized and targeted reservation systems are used by the CDMOs to work
smoothly at strategic locations and events. Sector-specific associations, hospitality human
resources organizations, economic development and city planning offices and travel
consultants helps to carry out the activities in a business-to-business format. Business travel
managers of DMCs are aware of the strained and budgeted trips and all the packages are
done keeping in mind the price sensitivity.
Some Smart Tips
1. Try and maintain relationships with least three potential DMCs so that you can
compare the quotes for any service and get the best price for the service
2. Get the full breakdown of commissions, hidden price, and fees, this is because some
DMCs apply an event management fee which might change depending on the
custom charges
3. Be advised of local best practices like tipping or other common shares followed by
the folks
4. Establish reporting lines and get the detailed report of the contingency options for all
travel delays
5. Before contracting with a DMC, check the following points:
a. Demographic information including its registered name and address
b. Legal structure of the company
c. Business start date
d. Whether they have membership in respective tourism offices
e. Business licenses as required by law
f. The real Certificate of Insurance
g. If possible, try and get some references
Bottom line
It won’t be wrong to say that an overseas travel agent’s guardian angel is a Destination
Management Company. The Destination Manager must be cognizant of the quality-of-
service providers and be aware of the contract dealings.
Travel professionals, directly or indirectly hold one singular motto – to provide the best
possible experience to the traveler. Not to promote your own agency, not to defend the job
title, not to impede the valuable time – but travel agents and DMCs should work hand on
hand and invest time and effort in customer satisfaction, innovation, and optimum
productivity.