Daisy Modiano

Daisy Modiano

Daisy is a TDM graduate (2008-9) and is currently a project coordinator at abouTourism, an international destination consultancy based in Athens, Greece.

I remember the feeling of excitement when I discovered the Tourism Destination Management master program offered by NHTV. The variety of subjects analysed in the theoretical part of the program, mirrors the complexity and the multidimensional nature of destination management in practice. The second part of the program, the field research projects, offered me the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in conducting consultation reports, practising on research methodologies and strategic planning at a destination level.

Upon graduation my goal was to work in destination management at a DMO (Destination Management Organization) or a destination consultancy level. I am now working at a newly formed international destination development & marketing consultancy based in Athens, Greece. The company’s services include destination planning & development, market research & intelligence, strategy- business planning & implementation support for DMOs at a national, regional or local level, destination marketing & branding, digital tourism strategies while it also organises seminars, workshops and presentations for destination executives and tourism professionals.

Every project is different, depending on the destination’s situation, character, needs and goals so it is safe to say that routine is out of the daily vocabulary. What initially drew my interest in destination development and drives me is the opportunity to help develop a strategic plan for a destination’s sustainable development along with providing support for its implementation in order for tourism to have positive long term effects. This is something which can not be done from one stakeholder in a destination, but only when all the operators in that destination are coordinated under the same principles.

This is in effect one of the greatest challenges in destination development and management. It is only logical that every individual company, operator or supplier group operating in a destination has their goals, capabilities and needs. When it comes to the implementation of tourism strategic planning, stakeholder management is where it all begins and ends, while considering- and adapting a proposed developmental plan to- the destination specific economic and socio-political circumstances.

In the end the reward is the knowledge that the destination’s economy and therefore its community has benefited from the implementation of the proposed strategy and action plan in the direction of the destination’s sustainable tourism development.

 

More information about the NHTV master in Tourism Destination Management.