Global Review of DMOs
Assessment of 200+ Destinations around the world
The Travel with Care team assessed the websites of more than 200 destination marketing and management organizations (DMOs) across North America, Europe and a selection of other countries to determine who had responsible traveler education and marketing efforts. We looked for all types of content designed to help travelers travel more responsibly.
Our analysis of these 208 DMOs highlighted that, as of May 2024:
33%have more robust responsible traveler education and marketing content, including visitor codes, significant online content, and video and multimedia assets. We reviewed more than 70 of these DMO examples to select our case studies and develop the six global best practices we identified.
22%of DMOs have limited responsible traveler content, including simple online articles, blogs or social media posts.
46%have no responsible traveler content, as of May 2024 that the assessment could find.
The number of DMOs in responsible traveler education and marketing is increasing.
As travelers returned following the pandemic, concerns about visitor behavior have become more prominent. Communities want tourists to contribute to their quality of life — not diminish it.
An increasing number of DMOs around the world have initiated programs to help travelers be better guests. From Alaska to Florida and New Zealand to Brazil, DMOs are providing educational materials and marketing programs designed to help visitors travel more responsibly.
These activities range from programs designed to inform visitors how to enjoy wild places (e.g., what to do when you see a grizzly bear) to reminders to commit to keeping beautiful places beautiful (e.g., the pledge visitors are asked to take when they visit Palau). They include marketing campaigns designed to address seasonality and the dispersion of visitors through the destination.
Do you have a responsible tourism program? Let us know!
We are inspired by the innovative, creative programs that are helping travelers do the right thing. Check out these programs from destinations around the world.