From November 30th to December 1st, the Îles de la Madeleine took part in the Digital Tourism Think Tank (DTTT) Global event held in Brussels, Belgium. Intended for all Destination Management Organization (DMO), this international conference offers a 2-day inspiring program regarding the following themes: innovation, transformation, digital technology, content marketing and leadership.

The Manager of the region's Tourism Cluster was among the 30-plus speakers of the event. His speech was focused on the destination and its business model and included some examples of storytelling developed by the destination, as well as the design thinking approach which led to the creation of a new tourism experience offered by the Réseau muséal des Îles-de-la-Madeleine (Museum Network).

The role of the DMO is changing and there are new opportunities out there to be grasped. Regardless of their extent, the challenges presented by the destinations overlap and can be summarized as follows:

• managing the customer journey;
• creating compelling content;
• leveraging the right data for decision-making;
• being efficient with limited resources; and
• engaging the stakeholders for a sustainable tourism development.

The quality of the presentations and the networking with the participants were highly enlightening. The speakers presented many ideas and concepts that can be useful for the Îles de la Madeleine.

This knowledge transfer will facilitate the development of new skills within the team of Tourisme Îles de la Madeleine, particularly with respect to the creation and dissemination of content aiming to promote experience sharing between Madelinots and travellers.

Moreover, the discussions between the management team of the Cluster of excellence for Recreational tourism and the DTTT team inspired an approach intended to improve the digital marketing practices of the Îles de la Madeleine tourism businesses in 2018.

The #DTTTGlobal event attracted two hundred and fifty (250) participants from about a hundred DMO, and thirty-two (32) countries were represented.

Here is the link to know more about the DTTTGlobal 2017 event.