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The beginning
A new business was born, they were known as ground operators (Ground handler: Person who would prepare everything needed before the plane lands.) whom were mostly small entrepenurships operating in a single destination. They offered services like airport meet and greet, transportation, tours and recreation, -
DMC was named in USA
Other type of services were added. The term destination management appeared in 1972 by Phil Lee, founder of California Leisure Consultants, to describe the expanded role they played as local logistics experts. -
Coming of age
DMCs flourished and expanded in the meeting, convention and incentive travel. There was tons of competition, and by the end of the decade, several regional and national destination management companies had emerged. -
Period: to
Recession
Organizations were forced to cut their meeting (recreation) budgets. Other suppliers like hotels, decorators, and transportation companies began offering similar services. More companies were competing for fewer dollars. -
Consolidation
Aggressive national expansion and “corporatizing” of the destination management business through institutional investment and venture capital. Mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, rollups, cooperative marketing agreements, and even franchise offerings changed the face of destination management. All of this created a dynamic, competitive, and thriving industry where only the strongest survived. -
Financial crisis
It had an unprecedented effect on the meetings industry, and not just on DMCs. It was a “perfect storm” of economic, social and political scrutiny of corporate excess, namely travel and recognition events, leading to the sudden cancellation of thousands of meetings across the country. The "AIG effect" left companies hesitant to travel across the country for meetings for fear of ridicule in the press. Many DMCs and event planning companies struggled to stay afloat. -
Globalization on the rise
The meetings industry has become much more complex, with procurement, risk management and financial oversight driving much of the purchasing process. Clients have reported that it’s not efficient to have 20 to 30 independent DMC suppliers, and they would prefer to work with three or four national partners instead. At the same time, clients have said they prefer to work with locally owned and operated DMCs. The term “global partner” has emerged.