Destination Management Organizations and Sports Events

Abstract The article presents the operations undertaken by city-level organizations in connection with major sport events. The analysis focuses on three events: two related to football (i.e. the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and 2008 UEFA European Football Championship in Austria and Switzerland) and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The article consists of two basic parts. The first one contains theoretical considerations related to the issue, i.e. understanding of the concept of destination management organizations (DMOs) and their operations, including those connected with large sport events. The second part is an attempt to characterize activities performed by selected urban DMOs in order to promote and publicize large football events hosted by these cities. It has been demonstrated that specific entities undertake various operations in this area. The majority of these are connected with promotion, yet it is possible to also identify other types of activity (e.g. related to trainings).