Understand the coalition, not just the market
Who holds the assets, who carries the cost, who takes the credit, and what each of them needs from the strategy in order to back it.
04Pillar: Strategy
Tourism, destination, and market strategy
Destinations are not organizations. They are coalitions. We help leaders build strategy that the stakeholders will actually carry out.
Who this is for
- Destination marketing and management organizations
- Tourism boards and public agencies
- Operators entering an unfamiliar market
- Civic and regional development bodies
The business problem
A destination organization controls very little of what a visitor experiences. It controls a budget, a brand, and a convening role. Strategy that ignores this produces plans the hotels, the venue, the airport, and the city never adopt.
Market entry has a parallel failure. Operators assess a market on demand data and discover that the constraint was supply, relationships, or regulation.
When clients call us
- A destination strategy is due and the last one was never implemented
- Stakeholders disagree about what the destination is for
- A major event or account is in play and the coalition must hold
- An operator is assessing entry into a new city, country, or category
- Public funding requires a defensible economic case
What we do
Build the economic case in terms the funders accept
Visitor economy value, displacement, and the honest counterfactual. Public money requires public reasoning.
Assess entry with the downside visible
For operators: supply, relationships, regulation, and seasonality, not just addressable demand. Including the case for staying out.
Sequence it so early wins fund the later ones
Destination strategies die in year two. We plan for the year-two problem in year one.
What you get
Deliverables may include
- Destination strategy and positioning
- Stakeholder mapping and alignment process
- Visitor economy and economic impact case
- Market entry assessment and route to market
- Bid and event strategy support
- Governance and implementation model
Outcomes clients are after
- A strategy the stakeholders adopt because they helped build it
- An economic case that survives public scrutiny
- Market entry decisions made with the downside understood
- Coalitions that hold together after the announcement
Example projects
Representative example, illustrative only
A destination aligning stakeholders for a major bid
- Situation
- A destination organization is bidding for a significant event. The hotels, the venue, the airport, and the city each have a different view of what winning is worth.
- What we do
- Get the economics on one page. Broker the commitments before the bid is written, so the submission reflects what the destination can actually deliver.
- Outcome
- A bid backed by real commitments, and a stakeholder group that stays aligned after the award.
A hospitality group entering a new market
- Situation
- An operator with a strong regional business wants to move into a market where it has no relationships, no supply, and no clear read on demand.
- What we do
- Assess the market honestly, including the case for not entering. Identify the partners, sites, and operating model that would make entry work, and the conditions under which it would not.
- Outcome
- A decision made with the downside understood, and a route in that does not depend on optimism.
How the engagement works
Work in this area usually runs as one of the following. We tell you which fits before you commit to anything.
A standing relationship with a defined scope. We stay close enough to the business to be useful quickly, and far enough outside it to say what an employee cannot. Most retainers settle into a monthly rhythm of working sessions, review of live decisions, and access between them.
- Board and owner decisions
- Growth planning
- Sounding board for the CEO
We take the seat. Commercial, partnership, or venue leadership held by an experienced operator for an agreed number of days each month, with real accountability for the outcome. The role is scoped to end, and we build the internal capability to replace it.
- Between permanent hires
- Function too small for a full-time exec
- Capability you intend to build
Scoped, priced, and delivered against a date. A market entry assessment, a partnership strategy, a guest experience review, a commercial plan for a venue. You get the work, the reasoning behind it, and a practical recommendation you can act on.
- A decision to be made
- A plan the board must approve
- Work with a deadline
We have sat on both sides of the table. On the issuing side we help define what you are actually buying and how to evaluate it. On the responding side we shape the strategy, the story, and the submission. Either way the work runs to the submission date.
- Venue management RFPs
- Destination and event bids
- Operator selection
Senior leadership on site while you run a search, complete a transaction, or stabilize an operation. We hold the role, keep the organization moving, and hand over cleanly with the knowledge transferred.
- Leadership transition
- Operational stabilization
- Post-transaction integration
Let's talk
Ready to discuss a destination strategy?
Tell us where you are. We will tell you honestly whether and how we can help, and what a sensible first step looks like.