have memberships and some of them don’t. And often what members want isn’t always necessarily what the consumer is looking for. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say I’m a

DMO that has a membership structure, and I’ve got 15 steakhouses that are DMO mem- bers and I’ve got 30 more that are not. If only the 15 member steakhouses are listed on a website, well, the consumer might want to know about all 45. The members say, “That’s my membership value. Only list the other 30 if they contribute funding, like I do.” Well, the consumer doesn’t really care about the model. They want to know, where is the best steak? Some DMOs are moving away from even

having a membership category, and going into a partnership category. The statistic is 41 percent of our members have a membership [category], 59 percent don’t.

Has the role of advocacy become more important for DMOs? If President Obama gets travel — and he does, probably more than any other president we’ve had in recent memory — it really gives a lot of momentum to the travel industry. It is important at the national level and certainly it is critical at the destination level, because ultimately, we’re relying on the hotel tax base or the general tax fund to fund our market- ing efforts. So it’s imperative that the DMO be

involved at the local level from an advo- cacy standpoint to ensure that the funding stays in place. We do a survey every couple of years of our CEOs — it’s a financial and organizational profile. In 2012, CEOs reported spending about 80 percent of their time on advocacy-related issues and about 20 per- cent of their time on marketing and selling a destination. Now, that could be a community involve-

ment — it doesn’t mean standing down in the mayor’s ofice every day — but promoting the value of tourism for your destination. Ten years ago, it was just the reverse: 80

percent of a CEO’s time was spent on market- ing and 20 percent was spent on advocacy. So the answer is definitely yes.

PCMA.ORG

As more associations and organizations include CSR activities at meetings, what are the opportunities for DMOs in provid- ing support? If you took the top 10 items that are includ- ed in an RFP, some kind of CSR question is always going to be included. Seventy-four percent of DMOs report actively recommend- ing local charities for clients to engage with during events. It’s an opportunity for DMOs to help the planners get their jobs done suc- cessfully, and with ease. Here’s an example. The Virginia Beach

CVB recognizes that sending planners to the local United Way, or any other list of 100 charities, puts a lot of work on the planner. So they defined six categories of different types of social-responsibility opportunities. Under each category, they give one to four recommendations for an activity that fits those themes. So it is already structured, it is not overwhelming, and it simplifies the job of the meeting planner.

How has the relationship between DMOs and local and state governments and busi- ness communities evolved? It’s evolving. That’s how I would describe it. If you take a look in the rearview mirror, I think DMOs were thought of as delivering visitor services, which they do very effectively through visitors centers, and now, an online presence and a combination of both, and of bringing meetings to a destination. I think the role of the DMO has evolved

over the last few years to one that has the primary responsibility of being able to com- municate the economic benefits of tourism and meetings to their specific destination. And DMOs have to be the best salespeo-

ple, because for the most part they’re selling a product they don’t produce and services they don’t deliver. The people selling that destina- tion have to really understand the product and know the services that are being pro- vided in that destination in order to be able to get the meeting planner the best experience. — Barbara Palmer

A CAPITOL IDEA: ADVOCATING FOR THE MEETINGS INDUSTRY

• On April 10–11, DMAI will partner with the U.S. Travel Association and other organizations for Destination: Capitol Hill, which will bring together professionals from all segments of the travel industry for an event in Washington, D.C., that will include meetings with legislators to talk about issues that affect travel.

• Thanks to research initiatives like “The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy” study, produced by the Convention Industry Council (CIC) in partnership with more than a dozen organizations, including DMAI, U.S. Travel, and PCMA, “I think we’re armed with the data, and being proactive in a lot of ways in talking about the importance of meetings,” said DMAI’s Michael Gehrisch. “Knowing the facts — that there are 1.8 million meetings held every year in the United States and that the industry creates 1.7 million jobs, or almost one job for every meeting held — those are pretty powerful numbers.”

• Destination: Capitol Hill will include presentations from leaders from both the travel industry and the federal government, and a workshop to help prepare participants to speak effectively about the issues with legislators. U.S. Travel has created a policy agenda for the event that includes visa-policy reform; funding for U.S. airport infrastructure and NextGen, an overhaul of the national air-trafic-control system; and opposition to steep, across-the-board cuts to government travel programs and support for improved methods of managing travel and conducting oversight.

For more information: ustravel.org and destinationmarketing.org

APRIL 2013 PCMA CONVENE

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