What is a DMO?
Otherwise known as a Destination Management Organisation, these are set up to take the lead role in managing and developing tourism in a specific area, and can cover more than one county.
Examples are: Visit Britain, Visit England, Visit Somerset, Visit Exmoor…….
A DMO operates by having ‘Paid Up’ Members, and these Members are usually offered various levels of Membership depending on the size of a business, or what a business is looking to promote.
So a Basic Membershipo might start around the £150 – £250 per annum, usually with VAT to add on top of this, and this will get that business basic representation. This might be company logo, contact details, a couple of images, and a small business description. You may, if you are lucky, also get links to your social media accounts.
As the Membership levels increase, so does the amount of information etc that the DMO will display on their website. In some cases, the very top package may set a business back around £1,000 plus VAT on top. Obviously, for this level of Membership, as a business you should expect a Rolls Royce service and representation.
In my opinion, and this is my opinion, based on 2+ years working alonside two DMOs in the South West of England, I do not believe that the DMOs are delivering value for money or ROI (return on investment)!
The reason I state this is for the following reason. No DMO is the South West of England is actively promoting inclusivity, and 99% of all marketing and promotional materials is solely aimed at the Heterosexual markets. There is little to no LGBTQ+ represenataion!! Why not you ask? I have to admit after numerous visits in person, phone calls, zoom calls, emails…. I am still at a total loss as to why these DMOs are almost afraid / scared to be showing their support for the LGBTQ+ communities. In my opinion, they are blatantly discriminating against the LGBTQ+ community. There is absolutely NO excuse for these DMOs not to be promoting to the LGBTQ+ community! After all, we are all equal and our money is just as good as the rest of the communities these organisations blatantly promote to. Why, in 2022, should we be on our knees pleading to get some positive represenation!!
When you look at how the worlds economy is slowly imploding, and more and more people are facing tough choices, like food over heat, surely as a business you should be welcoming everyone in as our money is more likely to help keep your business afloat than any other community here in the UK.
The sad fact is, many of the Members are disillusioned with said DMOs because there seems to be a general lack of genuine interest in promoting these businesses to the public. I heard multiple stories from businesses telling me that they were frequently being let down by poor service, a failure by the DMOs to respond to their online enquiries, emails and phone calls. The trouble is, if they did not promote with these DMOs, how would they promote?
The LGBTQ+ purchasing or spending power in 2022 is worth in excess of £7,000,000,000 (billion) to the UK market, and that is just from the UK LGBTQ+ community. If you factor in international toursits, this figure rises to over $1 trillion globally. Add to this the fact that year on year the LGBTQ+ community has the largest precentage increase in disposable income to spend on things like travel, long weekends away, eating out, shopping…. then this is a total no brainer to you, as a business. Start to be inclusive, show you proud to support our community. Not tomorrow, or the next day, but TODAY!
If you would like to learn more about how to become part of the Everyone Is Welcome movement, or just have a general question, please feel free to contact Chris.
Mobile: +44 (0) 7930 60 59 30
