DMMO inclusive, smart and aimed at making TCI the envy of the world, says Premier Washington Misick

By Dana Malcolm 

Stay Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, April 26, 2023 – The establishment of the Destination Marketing and Management Organization is a social partnership aiming to promote inclusivity, move away from a politically driven board, and develop smart tourism according to Premier Washington Missick speaking in an April 24th press conference.

The social partnership, as Misick described it, will move the country away from an organization focused on only marketing, which was what the Tourist Board was.

“What you have now was set up 30 years ago as a marketing organization— driven essentially by the political directorate of the day, and that is to me not inclusive enough.”

The critical difference, the Premier said, was the management aspect that the DMMO would bring to the Turks and Caicos curating more activities and promoting growth across the entire country. ‘Nothing fails like success,’ he quoted maintaining that without serious efforts to grow and diversify the tourism product especially in the aspects of attractions and activities, the country would stagnate.

“I have personally done extensive research on our market and if you do the same research, you would find that there are glowing reviews on this market but there criticisms about two major aspects of tourism; attractions and activities. In order to have a complete product, it’s important to focus on every touch point in the ecosystem of tourism and so that’s what the DMO will do.”

Both Premier Misick and Josephine Connolly, Minister of Tourism emphasized it was that while change was uncomfortable, there is a great deal of misinformation circulating around the organization and the press conference was held in an effort to combat that.

“There seems to be a significant amount of confusion in the public space about what we’re doing, and some of it may be a deliberate attempt to mislead.” he said, maintaining that this had in fact, been part of the citizen’s contract between the governing PNP party and the Turks and Caicos.

“Whatever we do in this country is connected to Tourism,” he maintained “and we have to focus on sustainability of the economy, the social balance‘s, and our precious natural capital.”

The organization has three pillars:

• inclusive growth,
• sustainable development,
• and competitiveness

To achieve these three pillars, the organization must diversify the tourism products, engage with stakeholders, and ensure tourist satisfaction, Misick said.

The DMO is also touted to employ around 50 staff with the potential to earn $16 million dollars a year through four revenue streams, including membership fees and a new tax levied per tourist.

Another major ask for progress that the DMMO will fill is tourism intelligence.

“It will have a marketing department that will be doing marketing, sales, and tourism intelligence. I want to drive that home, because one thing you don’t get from the tourist board is intelligence.”

He said this was necessary if the country was to be able to target visitors and broaden its source market. The bylaws of the organization were signed on April 14th after much discussion and despite lingering confusion in the public sphere.

The real test is to see if this recent effort by the PNP Administration to enlighten on the DMO has worked to convince residents, this creation is a win for destination TCI.