A Destination Management Organization, more commonly referred to as a DMO, carries out the coordinated management of all the elements that make up a tourism destination (accommodation, restaurants, transport, tour operators, guides, tourism associations, local communities, etc.)  based on a collective destination vision. Although the characteristics and organizational model may vary from one destination to another, the common objectives for every DMO are to stimulate collaboration among all public and private stakeholders involved in the tourism sector, ensuring the competitiveness and sustainability of the destination and catalyzing the benefits for the local economy, while ensuring tourism arrivals and expenditure.

DMOs can cover a wide range of activities but the main foundations are inclusive growth, sustainable development and competitiveness.  A DMO generally has an appointed Board of Directors and a CEO who manages a range of departments and committees with full time staff. Public and private stakeholder can apply to become members of the DMO and receive a wide range of benefits from doing so related to access to training and dedicated marketing activities etc.

The reorganization of tourism management in TCI will also include the establishment of a Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA), this authority will act as stewards for the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. The Tourism Regulatory will set, monitor and maintain standards for the entire industry through a range of activities such as governing tourism licensing, tourism quality standard, certified training programs, etc.

The TCI Government has stated that the top-down statist orientation of the TCI Tourism Board needs to be readdressed to better address the long-term economic, social and environmental well-being of the destination. The DMO to be developed in TCI will have as its basis the facilitation of better collaborative partnerships with authorities, stakeholders and professionals to achieve a unified mission towards a united destination vision, balancing the interests of both public and private sectors, visitors and residents alike.  This collaboration will assist a range of activities such as product development, collection and analysis of tourism data quality of services and tourist satisfaction as well as structured marketing. Furthermore, the DMO will develop and promote the country in a holistic way representing all the islands in the archipelago.

Data has always remained in the hands of the privileged few, or data that is collected and shared is not relevant or interesting for small stakeholders nor it does provide real time information which allows for sustainable development. The Smart DMO approach changes all

A Smart DMO creates a tourism eco-system that allows for real time information sharing which will fuel destination development to encourage tourists to spend more. Today it is key to profile the tourists visiting the destination, not only related to their level of satisfaction, but also related to their spending, movement, preferences and opinions. The collection and direct sharing of smart data in a way that all stakeholders can easily access allows both the private and public sector to modify and improve their product to encourage tourists to spend more.

In short, the concept of a smart DMO refers to efforts aimed at integrating advanced technologies into the fabric of destinations in order to enhance their innovation capacity, generate value creation opportunities, and mitigate the negative effects of tourism while providing tourists with superior experiences. Furthermore, smart tourism involves strong private-government partnerships especially what regards the legislation on data collecting, sharing, hosting, and big data analysis.

A Smart DMO is based on the concept of a Tourism Learning Region (TLR): a multi-stakeholder, inter-sectional, partnership approach aimed at improving human potential for running the tourism sector at the regional level. A TLR brings stakeholders together in coherent information and cooperation networks, in order to pay specific attention to the sector’s performance and governance issues related to regional eco-system security, human capital and SME/Micro-enterprise development. A TLR network addresses tourism sector challenges by improvements in entrepreneurial quality, innovation, competitiveness and sustainability.

The aim of the approach is to improve the quantitative and qualitative development of stakeholder performance in the tourism industry. That means: making SMEs more innovative and competitive; making public administrators more supportive and efficient; gearing learning centers towards fostering innovative and entrepreneurial potential; and helping members of the workforce and local residents to improve their contribution and rewards.