CED services
SMED
To help bring destinations worldwide towards excellence, the World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) has developed the System of Measures for Excellence in Destinations, or SMED. This unique system focuses on short‐term and long‐term goals of sustainable tourism. Destinations evaluated using the SMED benefit by receiving concrete and feasible recommendations for strategic interventions and continuous improvement.
Diagnostic
The SMED provides the most complete and accurate portrait possible of a tourist destination at a given point in time.
Progress
The SMED highlights the destination’s strengths and weaknesses, thus allowing destination stakeholders to take concrete steps to maintain and improve performance.
Collaboration
The SMED can be used to unite destination stakeholders by mobilizing them around strategic goals and joint actions aimed at developing the sustainable performance of the destination.
Positioning
The SMED brings a destination’s unique characteristics and attributes to the fore, allowing the destination to refine and improve its market positioning and brand definition.
Comparative analysis
The SMED can be used to compare one destination with others, or to world destination benchmarks, making collective experience and best practices available to all partners of this global‐ scale project.
Communication
The SMED evaluation recognizes strengths the destination can use in communications addressed to its target clienteles and the media.
Testimonials
One of the best decisions our organization has ever made was to implement the World Centre of Excellence for Destinations’ SMED (System of Measures for Excellence in Destinations). Being collectively introduced to this system through a series of workshops gave us the opportunity not only to grasp the real potential of Mégantic region as a destination, but also to encourage and promote collaboration between tourism stakeholders. The collaborative working spirit developed during the process will surely allow us to reach our shared goals. We can’t wait to see what an exceptional touristic experience the Mégantic region will be able to offer at the beginning of the new decade.
Jean François Ruel
Tourism development officer
Among the many benefits of SMED for our destination, I would mention the following: a better implementation of the Douro Valley Tourism Plan through advice and recommendations provided by CED experts, and an integration of our destination in a global network of destinations committed to continuing improvement toward excellence.
Nuno Fazenda
Turismo de Portugal
The SMED made it possible to position our destination around the synergy between tourism and culture. A concrete outcome of the SMED is Culturat (combination of the word culture and AT, the abbreviation for Abitibi-Témiscamingue), a vast mobilization and sustainable development initiative that aims to enhance the identity of the region through arts and culture.
Randa Napky
Director general
Tourism and Culture Initiatives Global Registry
Publicize your initiatives by registering them free of charge in this register.
SMED Lab
A tool designed to support new and emerging destinations to set up tourism governance and use new technologies.