Planners have long recognized the benefits of CSR in connecting participants with their communities. Wayfinder We take this idea a step further and offer an evidence-based framework for destination management: community-centered tourism that fosters a sense of ownership through resident empowerment and participation.
Recently released Destinations InternationalAt the 2024 annual conference, Wayfinder The Destination Management Tool, delivered by the Miles Partnership, provides the first industry-led, evidence-based framework for destination management.
Built within a proven SaaS platform, Wayfinder provides a clear path for destination organizations to create and drive their management strategies. The purpose-built software is designed to help organizations and management consultants streamline operations and direct resources to the areas that matter most to destinations and the communities they serve. With a shared interest in improving community engagement and the overall health of destinations, Wayfinder and Destinations International’s strategic partnership advances industry-wide efforts to adopt a unified destination management approach.
This framework: Global Stewardship Innovation Labis a group of tourism sector thought leaders, management practitioners and researchers representing diverse ethnicities, cultures, genders and mindsets.
“We wanted to create a definition of stewardship that gets beyond the ambiguity of the term destination management – is it marketing or management? So part of the Innovation Lab’s role was to define what stewardship best practice looks like,” Christine Dunn, global strategic marketing consultant at Miles Partnership, told Prevue at DI 2024. “Wayfinder has a module that defines what organisations need to do to take a stewardship approach – essentially caring for a destination from an economic, social, cultural and environmental perspective.”
Beyond economic indicators
Until now, tourism organizations have not been able to adequately measure or benchmark their management outcomes beyond economic indicators. Wayfinder provides a visual understanding of an organization’s capabilities across four management outcomes: (1) economic prosperity, (2) environmental integrity and ecological balance, (3) social well-being, and (4) cultural and heritage identification and preservation.
For group events, planners who use Wayfinder to work with DMOs can give attendees a better understanding of the destination they’re visiting.
“By looking at a destination holistically and understanding the role events play in a destination’s thriving, groups can become part of the DNA of the place and an aspect of life there,” Dan points out. “Meetings and conferences are important to destinations and are important to seasonality, so providing consistent thriving throughout the year benefits the local community.”
Since the pandemic, destinations have been reevaluating how they leverage the power of tourism to benefit both communities and visitors. Miles Partnership conducted a survey in collaboration with more than 300 destination organizations in North America and Europe. The results showed that most residents feel they have no involvement in how tourism is developed or managed in their communities, with less than one-fifth of destination organizations reporting the opposite.
Changing social, cultural, environmental and economic priorities are challenging tourism organizations to become more active advocates, expanding their role well beyond traditional destination promotion to a community-centred approach.
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