Bindi Varghese and Neha Itty Jose Paul

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses in detail the role of Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) in enhancing the competitiveness of the destination and help benchmark the destination. The state of Karnataka in India is selected for the study. The state is known to be “Mini Incredible India” which in short describes how versatile the state is in terms of its tourism potentiality. The 2002-2007 tourism policy of Karnataka explains the vision for the state which is, “to be on par with the best in the world; to excel in every facet of the tourism industry; to emerge as a benchmark for other destinations”, this paper describes how the vision can be achieved through Destination Management Organizations (DMOs). Paper is based on literature reviews that extend from extensive reviews based upon the tourism policies of Karnataka, Destination Management Organizations (DMOs), benchmarking and competition