National tourism marketing: Scale-free and small-world networks
(A2025-125812)

AUTHORS

Havard Ness, University of South-Easten Norway; Jarle Aarstad, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences; SVEN HAUGLAND, NHH Norwegian School of Economics

ABSTRACT

Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) are key actors in the tourism industry. DMOs are responsible for the marketing of a tourism destination, be it a country, a region, or a local destination representing a municipality or neighboring municipalities. Being geographically bounded, DMOs engage in networking to support collective marketing initiatives. Research on DMOs is substantial and particularly related to their different roles and functions within a destination and its marketing. Relationships between DMOs are vastly under-researched, and to the best of our knowledge there is no study mapping a national network of DMOs. The main findings suggest the national DMO network in Norway has a scale-free power law distribution and small-world properties. This implies that DMOs are well connected both nationally and locally, and the structure facilitates the implementation of a national marketing strategy.