News
No Reversal; DMO Full Speed Ahead with Italian firm
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 1, 2023 – The TCI Destination Management Partnership Ltd is the official name for the new organization which will have control of the multi-billion dollar industry that is Turks and Caicos tourism.
The announcement serves as another indication that the government will move forward with its plan to turn the TCI Tourist Board into a Destination Marketing and Management Organization in months.
Another indication is recent cabinet approvals of a timeline for the transition, booked to be complete in June. Those approvals came on February 8th according to Cabinet minutes shared by the government days after severance letters
The transition to DMMO has been controversial since it was announced with the opposition and members of the general public questioning why the change was necessary given the success of tourism. Still, the government is holding firm in its plan, maintaining that without serious change TCI would be subject to the inevitable cycle of exploration, involvement, development, consolidation and then stagnation.
It is a fate which Premier Washington Misick said the government is eager to avoid.
It will take a period of five years for the organization to become fully operational once instituted in June. The opposition has called for more public consultation via the appointment of a select committee, a request which the government has rejected as unnecessary.
During our one on one with Josephine Connolly, TCI Minister of Tourism it was shared that Italian, Target Euro Srl was hired as consultants on the transition; specializing in tourism and economic development, having assisted “13 DMOs and Tourism Regulatory Authorities in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.”
The 25-year old company, on its website informs, it has been retained by some 60 countries to carry out a reported, 140 projects which includes work in the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica and the United Kingdom.