Granicus launches destinations cloud for tourism bodies

Granicus has launched Destinations Experience Cloud and created Granicus Destinations, a new unit focused on destination marketing organisations and place-based brands.

The segment supports more than 1,000 destinations worldwide, including all 11 FIFA World Cup host cities across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The move expands Granicus' presence in the tourism and destinations market following its acquisition of Simpleview, a platform widely used by destination marketing organisations, or DMOs. Drawing on more than 25 years of sector experience through that business, Granicus is now bringing products, services and support teams together under a dedicated destinations segment.

Destination marketing organisations face growing pressure to show that tourism spending benefits local communities as well as visitors. They are also being asked to balance visitor growth with the interests of residents, businesses and elected officials, while improving the reporting used to justify investment decisions.

In response, the new platform is designed to bring together websites, customer relationship management systems, analytics and reporting tools on a shared database. The aim is to help destination organisations replace fragmented systems and generate automated insights from a single platform.

Market focus

The destinations division will retain dedicated leadership, products, services and customer success teams. Those teams will work with destination organisations on demand generation, meetings and events sales, and stakeholder accountability, which Granicus described as the three main areas of modern destination management.

DXC customers will also be supported by "Experience Partners", who will work with destination leaders to connect organisational and community goals with execution and measurement.

Granicus, which handles more than 30 billion digital interactions each year across 7,000 public sector organisations, is extending its wider public sector data and engagement business into tourism. The new platform will allow destination leaders to monitor thousands of destinations worldwide.

Ian Roberts, UK Managing Director of Granicus, linked the launch to current pressures on regional economies in Britain.

"Given the economic uncertainty and wider change the UK has experienced over the past 12 months, there is a growing need for local regions to drive tourism as a lever for economic growth. Destination organisations play a central role in supporting communities, attracting investment and creating places where people want to live, work and study.

At the same time, DMOs are under increasing pressure to balance visitor growth with the needs of residents and demonstrate clear value. By bringing together data, engagement and reporting in one place, organisations can use DXC to take a more joined-up, evidence-based approach to managing tourism and delivering long-term community benefit," said Roberts.

Data and AI

The platform includes data analytics and digital engagement tools intended to help organisations understand visitor behaviour, work with meeting planners, and communicate with residents and other stakeholders. It also draws on Granicus' existing work in applied artificial intelligence and data science.

According to the company, the system offers pre-defined adoption paths so destination organisations can adopt combinations of technology, data and services based on current needs. They will then be able to add new reporting tools, product updates and AI-based functions as the platform develops.

Granicus is using AI in destination and stakeholder experiences to improve internal processes, shape user journeys aimed at generating demand, and identify opportunities from visitor and meetings sales data already held in its systems.

That approach reflects a broader shift in the sector, where destination organisations increasingly need to show not just marketing outcomes but wider economic and social impact. Shared data and more consistent reporting have become more important as public authorities seek evidence that tourism strategies align with community priorities.

Mark Hynes, chief executive officer of Granicus, said the restructuring is an extension of the Simpleview business rather than a break from it.

"As we transition and evolve Simpleview into Granicus Destinations, we are honoured to carry forward the people, products, history and deep industry partnership that DMOs have come to trust," said Hynes. "By combining over 25 years of tourism and destinations expertise with Granicus' unique history of building and supporting community experience and intelligence solutions at high scale, Granicus Destinations is uniquely positioned to help DMO leaders manage an increasingly complex and connected landscape of stakeholder engagement. No solutions partner is better equipped to help leaders understand, measure and address the 'whole of the community' complexities necessary to support economic growth and vitality than Granicus."