Tourism Destination Management and Branding

Program Overview

Destinations compete for visitors, investment and events, and GCC countries are investing heavily in new tourism offers, from heritage sites to large-scale developments and urban leisure districts. This course covers the work of destination management organisations: assessing destination assets and visitor markets, coordinating public and private stakeholders, planning visitor experience and capacity, and building a destination brand with a clear identity, positioning and story. Participants learn to measure brand perception and tourism performance and to manage reputation, sustainability and community impact, drawing on cases such as the tourism programmes under Saudi Vision 2030 and emirate-level tourism strategies in the UAE.

Learning Outcomes

• ✓Audit a destination's attractions, access, amenities and visitor segments to define its competitive position.
• ✓Map destination stakeholders and design a governance model for a destination management organisation.
• ✓Develop a destination brand platform covering identity, positioning, value proposition and core narrative.
• ✓Plan integrated marketing activity across digital channels, trade partners and events.
• ✓Define tourism performance and brand health KPIs such as visitor spend, length of stay and net promoter score.
• ✓Assess carrying capacity and community impact to plan sustainable visitor growth.

Target Audience

• Destination marketing and tourism authority staff
• Tourism development and investment officers
• Brand and marketing managers in hospitality and attractions
• Event and cultural heritage programme managers

Detailed Program Modules

Training Methodology

Applied Project & Assessment