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BEGINNING
As a response to meeting and convention planners’ desire for custom group leisure activities during their programs, a new business was born. These local companies offered basic services including airport meet-and-greets, transportation, packaged tours, and recreational activities for groups. -
PHIL LEE
The term “destination management company” was coined in the U.S. in 1972 Phil Lee (who founded California Leisure Consultants in 1969), to describe the expanded role the companies played as local destination and logistics experts. -
DMCP
During the economic boom of the 1980s, destination management companies flourished, further expanding their roles in the meeting, convention and incentive travel industry. -
Period: to
RECESSION
More companies were competing for fewer dollars. Organizations were forced to cut their meeting and incentive budgets. Other suppliers, such as hotels, decorators, and transportation companies, began offering similar destination services to DMCs. -
CONSOLIDATION
We witnessed aggressive national expansion 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. -
FINANCIAL CRISIS
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. Many DMCs and event planning companies struggled to stay afloat, and some were forced to permanently close their doors. -
GLOBALIZATION IN THE RISE
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.