In Albania, age-old traditions and Mediterranean beaches

Effective destination management and marketing is achieved when there is coordinated management of all elements that make up a destination—including the businesses, attractions, amenities, access, marketing and pricing.

Solimar assists destinations take a strategic approach to linking these sometimes very separate entities for the improved overall management and consistent marketing of a destination. After implementing more than 200 tourism development programs, Solimar has identified the ten main challenges faced by almost every emerging destination:

1. Lack of a long-term, actionable tourism plan that is supported and being implemented though public-private-community collaboration and commitments.
2. Absence of an effective destination management and marketing organization (DMMO) that brings public, private, and community tourism stakeholders together to work collaboratively with a sustainable source of financing to support actions.
3. Lack of authentic tourism products that provide for immersive experiences where visitors can understand and appreciate the natural environment, people and cultural traditions of the places they are visiting. Many destinations are unable to meet this demand even though the tourism assets are available to do so.
4. A non-existent or weak destination brand that is not utilizing online storytelling, video, and photography to create a destination image and generate demand for the destination and the tourism businesses in the region.
5. Limited tourism information and interpretation available in the destination to help travelers discover local tourism businesses and understand and appreciate the natural and cultural heritage of the destination.
6. A difficult and confusing business enabling environment that prohibits new investments and increases the cost of doing business through time-consuming and complicated processes for registering, paying taxes, obtaining permits, and renewing licenses.
7. Limited business management, operations, and marketing capacity of tourism companies to operate and grow a profitable business. Because most tourism businesses are small and often owner operated, they often lack the experience, standard operating procedures, and training needed.
8. A skilled workforce that can fill the available tourism jobs and meet the needs of the industry.
9. Safety, quality, and sustainability standards to ensure visitor satisfaction while ensuring the industry minimizes negative economic, cultural and environmental impacts.
10. Lack of monitoring and measuring tourism impacts to understand visitor profiles and the full extent of impacts—both positive and negative—from tourism.