The goal is to establish a Destination Management Organization in the field of tourism
A twenty member working group was founded on 6th of June by Harghita County Council and the Harghita Intercommunity Development Association to establish the new Destination Management Organization in the county. On the meeting organized in the county seat, entrepreneurs and representatives of tourist organizations were taking part. The members of the working group were formed by the presenters and interested participants. A lot of presentations were brought forward on functioning of the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), for example, best practices were shown from South-Tyrol or from Hungary. Furthermore there was presented the activity of Association of “Sóvidék–Hegyalja”.
According to the keynote speech, the destination-management is “the process of shaping the tourist attractions into products within a particular geographical area, organizing them into a system, creating the market competitiveness of the products embedded in destination”. The initiated organization, besides the sustainable market development, will be aimed at supporting the efforts, the success and the competitiveness of touristic businesses, in order to offer the base for the more complex, socio-economic effects of tourism to proportionally prevail our region in order to increase the living standards of the inhabitants.
The participants were welcomed by Harghita County Council’s vice-president, Mr. József Birtalan who underlined that the county council is partner in initiatives aiming the development of tourism. In this regard, up to the present several measures were taken for boosting the touristic life, for example by elaborating a development plan of Hargita Mountain, or the county level tourism development strategy as well. Last but not least the county council participates in several tourism projects like the project of ’The way of Mary’. As the vice-president emphasized, “we need to attract a wide range of people, even by calling the attention not only on the tourist attractions in Harghita county but we can also suggest for the tourists to visit other tourist destinations, for example the city of Brașov too. Hence, the tourists can stay longer here, and then go further to other places nearby.”
Establishing a DMO would be the first step in creating the secure base of future tourism, as it was said during the meeting. Mr. Benedek Nagy, tourism expert, presented the DMO organizations already operating in other countries, and said that the planned working group will have as tasks to elaborate or to order a touristic destination management manual, which will be available for every DMO member. The working group will invite to the forum each potential DMO member in different sub-regions (Odorheiu Secuiesc, Miercurea Ciuc, Târgu Secuiesc, Sfântu Gheorghe, etc.), extending the organization to a regional level. The 20 inner members would organize meetings regularly at two or three weeks, and the taken decisions would be transmitted to all members. Once the DMO is registered, it will take over the role and tasks of the working group.
The moderator of the meeting, Mr. Dr. Alpár Horváth, university teacher, presented the best practice of the Hungarian settlement, Gyenesdiás, where destination management is a successful story. In his point of view, it is not enough to attract tourists in the region but it is also essential to deal with the image and structure of cities and villages, starting with cutting the grass to controlling the traffic. He thinks that the future DMO will have a hard work to solve the occurring problems in this area.
Mr. Antal Szentes, county councilor, suggested that entrepreneurs should participate in groups within an experience exchange in Gyenesdiás or South-Tyrol. He also urged the establishment of a DMO in Ciucul de Sus too, which will then join the planned DMO on regional level, offering the possibility for everyone in the region to take part in this new initiative. The county councilor underlined that the DMO will be successful and will achieve its goals if all interested parties take seriously all the issues tackled with.
Miercurea Ciuc, 6th of June 2013
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