Financial Management in Tourism: A Destination Perspective

Abstract

This research examines the nature of financing and financial management within North American Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), identifies issues of concern in this area, and assesses how financing strategies may be changing. The research finds DMOs (convention bureaus or visitor/tourist bureaus) to be very reliant on public funding and optimistic regarding their future budget revenue streams in general. The research also finds bureaus to be relatively unsophisticated in the measurement of performance on both financial and non-financial dimensions. Cash flow problems are found to be common in bureaus. The authors caution bureaus to work at developing new non-governmental sources of revenue and to develop acceptable measures of performance for the providers of funds. While some measures are suggested, the authors acknowledge the complexity of the task and identify a number of significant gaps that should be addressed through further study.