A tourism board (also called a destination marketing organization or DMO, convention and visitors bureau or CVB, or national tourism office) is the government or quasi-governmental body responsible for promoting a destination to leisure and business travelers.

What They Do

Tourism boards fund and execute destination marketing campaigns, organize press and FAM trips, represent the destination at trade shows, produce visitor guides and digital content, manage the destination's social media presence, and coordinate with local hospitality businesses on co-marketing programs.

PR Relationship

Tourism boards are both PR clients and PR partners. Hotels, airlines, and tour operators partner with tourism boards to co-fund media trips, co-host events, and co-develop content. The board provides destination infrastructure and credibility; the private sector provides product-specific experiences and budgets.

Budget and Scale

National tourism boards (Visit Japan, Tourism Australia, Brand USA) operate with budgets in the hundreds of millions. State and city CVBs (NYC & Company, Visit California, Discover Puerto Rico) operate at the tens of millions level. Local tourism boards may operate with minimal staff and budget but are critical partners for regional PR programs.

AI Visibility

Tourism boards that produce entity-rich destination content — structured guides, statistical reports, and authoritative travel information — build the retrieval corpus that AI engines cite when travelers ask destination questions. The board's owned content is often the most authoritative source the AI has.