2014 St. Gallen Consensus on destination management

This paper summarizes the main insights of the second Biennial Forum on Advances in Destination Management (ADM), held in St. Gallen (Switzerland). Issues in five domains preoccupied the discourse of scholars and practitioners alike: (1) the definition of ‘destination’, (2) the purpose and legitimacy of destination management organizations (DMO), (3) governance and leadership in destination networks, (4) destination branding, and (5) sustainability. For each domain, this consensus offers a purposeful research agenda grounded in the ADM׳s community of destination management and marketing researchers. This paper builds on conference participants׳ collective sense-making efforts expressed over the course of the conference and in a dedicated consensus session.