The concept of a destination management company is relatively new compared to traditional travel and tourism companies. As businesses all over the world are globalizing their operations, corporate events are gaining importance as a vital organizational function aimed at enhancing brand image. This has, in turn developed corporate events management as a specialized branch of project management that plans, develops and executes different types of corporate events with high levels of professional efficiency while ensuring that the strategic objectives of such events are realized at every step. In order to meet the specific requirements of corporates, it becomes necessary to hire skilled event managers having relevant experience.
While searching for corporate events management companies, a destination management company is given preference because of certain intrinsic features of the latter. As the name suggests, a destination management company is an organization that specializes in destination (or location) specific event management activities. Hence, it goes without saying that the primary strength of a destination manager is its familiarity with a particular place – which may be a city, a state, or even a country. The company responsible for meetings or conferences must have sufficient wisdom to guide its client through the various steps of a corporate event, irrespective of its complexity.
The degree to which a destination management company possesses necessary expertise plays a crucial role in the success of a corporate event. At a glance, it may seem that a destination manager is just responsible for the planning and execution of an event. Only when observed deeply, it becomes evident that the full spectrum of its operations is quite huge and often very complex. Not only are the operational facets numerous, they are also mutually exclusive at times. Due to such reasons, it is necessary for a destination management company to be highly competent in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs). It must also diligently collect all relevant information pertaining to its clients’ brands in order to recognize their target audiences, design the concept of the event, and synchronize all technical aspects before the event is actually launched.
Operating in a highly lucrative and niche segment, a destination management company can be of different sizes. While some may be as small as a single person operation, others can go up to the level of international businesses with presence in multiple cities across the globe. The size of these companies averages at 8-10 employees who work as full-time staff. However, part-time and temporary help are also hired for certain special projects. It is being observed that, as a new trend, smaller destination management companies that operate at local levels are getting acquired and merged with larger players of the industry. This points at the increasing importance of these companies.
As has already been briefed, a destination management company plays a crucial role in shaping the success of corporate events. It helps companies with every possible aspect of their events. These aspects include site selection, airport transfers, ground transportation, dining, sight-seeing, speakers, entertainment, floral arrangements, decoration, photographers, catering, security, temporary staffing, and many more. During the planning stage, which includes planning as well as coordinating, a destination management company does numerous activities. The process starts with budgeting, during which the operations team discusses the budgetary parameters of clients and estimates different overheads. Once budgeting is completed, the process moves on to scheduling, site selection, registrations, logistics, and other activities.
It has already been mentioned that the main advantage of a destination management company is that it is very much familiar with a particular location. It has relevant knowledge of all local customs as well as businesses and resources. By virtue of these qualities, it saves a lot of valuable time and money for its clients. Being completely aware of local resources helps a destination management company in appraising the quality of different local vendors and service providers before contracting them. Moreover, it generally buys in bulk, and this in turn helps it negotiate better deals not only for itself, but also for its clients. It also knows accurately as to who all it must contact in case an alternate plan has to be designed and executed.
While a destination management company does all these both to satisfy its clients as well as to maintain a competitive edge among its competitors, the clients can actually avoid all sorts of headache that they might have to suffer from if they had to plan their corporate events by themselves. By using the services of these companies, a corporate client can avoid the risks of duplication as well as extra work which might otherwise lead to wastage of valuable resources. Destination management companies enhance corporate events through their expertise and they also provide all round support to ensure their success.
Gaining significantly from the buying power that it enjoys in the local markets, a destination management company provides huge monetary relief to its clients. Apart from this, another important benefit that it provides to its clients is an invaluable creative edge that helps corporate events transcend into cherishable experiences. This is made possible by creative employees who harness their first-hand knowledge and experience pertaining to the destination and enable clients to bypass all difficulties despite being unfamiliar with the site for their corporate event. They act as reliable consultants providing holistic solutions for events management.
As the number of activities that have to be performed during the planning stage of a corporate event is huge, a destination management company requires to coordinate on a continuous basis with third-party vendors and must have the deftness to switch from Plan A to Plan B as and when required to ensure that no contingency can affect the event goal. In a fast-paced global business scenario, it acts as a strategic partner for its clients and help them with corporate event plans by incorporating elements of marketing communication that deliver effective brand statement and enhance brand image. Owing to all these factors, a destination management company plays an indispensable role in the overall success of its clients.