Improving the Management of Tourist Destinations: A New Approach to Strategic Management at the DMO Level by Integrating Lean Techniques

Destination management organizations have a key role to play in the governance of tourism destinations, in managing destination networks and in ensuring good cooperation between stakeholders. Although, destination management organizations (DMOs) are atypical organizations, their operations are evaluated according to their organizational efficiency and effectiveness. This study aims to propose a framework to improve the management of the tourist destination through an innovative approach that interconnects strategic management and Lean techniques to increase efficiency and productivity in operational processes, organizational efficiency and effectiveness at the DMO level. The framework developed in this study interconnects the analysis of the internal environment through the Value Chain and the Lean Six Sigma methods identified to be suitable for application in the management of the tourist destination. Testing of the practical application of this framework was done for Association for the Promotion and Development of Tourism (APDT), which is the DMO that ensures the management of the tourist destination of Brasov, Romania. The research contributes to the optimization of the processes at the DMO’s level. The framework developed in this study can be implemented by practitioners to improve the management of the tourist destination. The paper also offers future research directions.