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CELTH makes an important contribution to the Destination Management Guideline
Tourist destinations can develop in a more structured way with the recently published destination management guideline. CELTH and many other parties contributed to the document entitled ‘Bestemmingsmanagement: ambities en leidraad’.
CELTH, together with NBTC and the province of Utrecht were the lead party. Regions, DMOs, VNG, IPO, the Ministry of EZK, and HISWA-RECRON were part of the working group
The conscious destination central
For CELTH, this widely supported guideline is a confirmation of its choice to place the destination at the center of its research agenda. CELTH opts for the destination level because that is where all the different sub-sectors and actors come together. At the destination, hospitality and value are created for tourists, residents, and companies. In a Conscious Destination, the social value of the hospitality domain is put first. All actors work on the most positive possible economic, social, and ecological impacts for residents (quality of life), visitors (quality of experiences), and professionals within the domain (quality of work).
Daniek Nijland, who was part of the working group on behalf of CELTH: “The Guidance on Destination Management brings together the ideas of Perspectief 2030, the advice of the Rli about Valuable Tourism and the Agenda Conscious Destinations of CELTH and offers practical tools to get started with these ideas. to go. Thanks to the collaboration with all the different parties, the guideline has become a rich and widely supported document. In addition, all 12 provinces have endorsed the guideline and have indicated that they are actively working on it. A great stepping stone to continue working on effective management of all those beautiful destinations in the Netherlands!”
Clear definition
The reason for the guideline is that each party for destination management and development opts for its applications and methodologies, with the associated handling of concepts. Although the unique local or regional context is optimally served by this, there is a need for a certain unambiguity or a shared image of what exactly we mean by destination management and how we deal with it. Now there is agreement on the definition of concepts such as hospitality domain, destination management, destination development, visitor management, and conscious destination. The definition as used in CELTH's Conscious Destinations Agenda was leading for this definition.
Principles for destination management
The guideline discusses the various components of destination management, the available instruments and the parties that play a role in this. The local context of a destination is always leading. The document is therefore not a blueprint, but a guideline for shaping destination management at every administrative level (national, provincial, regional, local). Five principles are important when applying the guideline:
- Reliable and current data as a foundation
- Composite product requires close cooperation
- Approach at the right scale
- Good balance centrally
- Integral approach as a key concept
Seven steps
The destination can then be developed (further) with seven essential steps. Destination management starts with analyses (step 1) in which attention is also paid to broader social issues that touch on the hospitality domain and that are relevant to the relevant destination area. The results of the analysis serve as a prelude to formulating a supported ambition (step 2 'what do we want to achieve') and a resulting development framework (step 3 'how do we want to achieve this'). Through zoning development (step 4) and demand management (step 5), interventions can then be carried out in consultation with stakeholders to realise the ambition. Finally, through evaluation and monitoring (step 6) we can determine whether the interventions have the desired effect. For effective destination management, a good organisation (step 7) is also essential.
Living working document
The guideline is emphatically a working document, which we will deepen and supplement in the coming period. For the themes from the Conscious Destinations Agenda, CELTH contributes to the knowledge development required for adequate destination management. From this point of view, CELTH is also involved in the further development of this guideline.
