Strategic Planning Principle: Destination Leadership

Destination leadership is the first of the four pillars within Zartico's Strategic Planning Principles.

What is Destination Leadership in Strategic Planning?

As stewards of the destination, the goal is to ensure that the visitor economy is in alignment with the community's values. This involves managing the current state of the destination and envisioning its potential for the future. This is often rooted in the direction set by you as the destination leader working closely with stakeholders to drive progress and alignment. Engaging stakeholders in this process is essential. Gathering their feedback and securing their support, followed by setting incremental goals towards this desired outcome, is key to activating the strategic plan across the next three principles.

Watch this overview of the Destination Leadership Strategic Planning Principle.

What does Destination Leadership using ZDOS® look like?

Let's start with an example. Consider a destination where the top priority over the next five, ten, or twenty years is to revitalize their downtown area. Imagine if they aim for their downtown to become a vibrant hub for businesses, retail, and restaurants, catering to both visitors and residents to enhance the quality of life and recreational opportunities.

If that scenario were to unfold, it would present an exciting opportunity for us to leverage as a leadership tool or initiative. We would then work on defining specific goals to reach that vision and establish benchmarks over the upcoming years. By identifying these initial benchmarks within ZDOS as data reference points, such as the current percentage of visitors in the downtown region, we can track progress as the destination implements these efforts.

How does Zartico help me grow in Destination Leadership beyond ZDOS?

You can always connect with your CSM to work on using ZDOS to build or enhance your strategic plans. Zartico also has a great opportunity for our clients to connect with the Zartico community. You can learn valuable best practices from peers on how to develop your own destination leadership plans, collaborate with stakeholders, and effectively utilize ZDOS to continuously evolve and measure progress against those plans. Join our Linkedin Community.