Sustainable tourism in mountain destinations: The perceived and actual role of a destination management organization

Abstract

Mountain destinations face many challenges from local displacement, harsh climatic conditions, or strong competition. Sustainable tourism development is therefore crucial to maintain the natural and cultural resources, which often are the main capital of mountain destinations. This study has been conducted to find out how destination management organizations (DMOs) operate in sustainable tourism. Results show that the DMOs do not perceive themselves as leaders but rather the political stakeholders and service providers. Furthermore, the perceived role of DMOs in the context of sustainable development does not fully match with the role they actually play today. The DMOs often are present in rather operational tasks, even though they say that a DMO should also undertake strategic tasks such as developing a sustainability strategy. Strategic tasks, which would help managing sustainable development in a more efficient way, are often neglected. A DMO looking for enhancement of sustainable tourism needs to undertake additional tasks and therefore has to create sufficient resources to go forward. Only DMOs taking on responsibility can sustainably develop their destinations in the long run.