Destination Makers
Destination Makers Srl SB is an Italian benefit corporation that provides sustainable destination marketing, community coaching, and gamification platform services to public tourism entities, destination management organizations, and local operators across Italy and Europe.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersBrindisi, Italy
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Destination Makers does
Destination Makers Srl SB is an Italian benefit corporation headquartered in Brindisi that operates as a boutique destination-marketing and territorial-innovation consultancy. Founded in 2014 and operating across Italy and Europe, the firm serves public entities, regional tourism boards, destination management organizations, and local tourism operators with a service architecture organized around four pillars — D·WHY (strategy), D·WHERE (experience design), D·WHO (community coaching), and D·WOW (creative marketing) — underpinned by the proprietary 'Destination Make!' co-design methodology.
The company monetizes primarily through tailored consulting engagements and creative marketing projects delivered to public-sector tourism clients, with each project scoped to the destination. Its flagship technology asset is DKind (Destination Kind), a gamification platform launched in 2024 that rewards sustainable tourist behaviors through quizzes, missions, and badges; the platform is licensed to destinations and is the digital backbone of the Doiman 'impact pact' program in Val di Sole. Distribution is relationship-driven: direct enterprise sales to public entities, a Scientific Partnership with BTO (Italy's main tourism innovation event), and earned media through national press and RAI coverage that functions as a free demand-generation channel.
The company is founder-controlled, led by co-CEOs and co-founders Emma Taveri and Letizia Ciaccafava, with a distributed team of roughly 10+ professionals across Italy. No external institutional investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity are disclosed. The business model couples professional-services revenue with nascent platform licensing, positioning Destination Makers at the intersection of public-sector consulting, community-led sustainable tourism, and early-stage digital productization.
Destination Makers firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Destination Makers
- Legal name
- Destination Makers Srl SB
- Website
- https://destination-makers.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Destination Makers Srl SB is an Italian benefit corporation that provides sustainable destination marketing, community coaching, and gamification platform services to public tourism entities, destination management organizations, and local operators across Italy and Europe.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Destination Makers industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Tourism Consulting Services
- NAICS
- Tour Operators (56152), Convention and Visitors Bureaus (561591), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Visitor Management & Overtourism Mitigation (Capacity Controls, Permitting, Reservations) (THAAANAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Community-Based & Indigenous Tourism Enablement (Local Ownership, Benefit-Sharing) (THAAANAI), Impact Monitoring, Verification & Reporting (MRV) Tools (Impact KPIs, Compliance Reporting) (THAAANAN), Sustainable & Responsible Incentives (Carbon Management, ESG Reporting) (THAHADAO)
Keywords
Where Destination Makers is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brindisi
- HQ country
- Italy
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Destination Makers business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Consulting and Professional Services: Strategic destination consulting, marketing campaigns, and professional services for public entities, regional tourism boards, and destination management organizations. Services include destination envisioning, strategy development, campaign design, and capacity building.
- Digital Platform Licensing: DKind gamification platform licensed to destinations for rewarding sustainable tourist behaviors. First three months results: 2,449 registered users, 21,887 missions completed, 16,630 quizzes taken, 523 experiences enjoyed.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels7 records
Destination Makers product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Destination Makers designs and promotes sustainable, creative, and inclusive destinations by combining territorial marketing with social innovation. It delivers strategic positioning, experience design, community coaching, and creative marketing services to public entities, municipalities, regional tourism boards, and DMOs, and operates the DKind gamification platform that rewards sustainable tourist behaviors in destinations.
Product overview
Destination Makers is a benefit company offering destination marketing and sustainable tourism services through its proprietary DKind gamification platform and the Doiman program for responsible tourism. Their service architecture is organized around four pillars: D·WHY (Strategy), D·WHERE (Experience Design), D·WHO (Community Coaching), and D·WOW (Creative Marketing), supported by the Destination Make! methodology rooted in co-design and participation. The DKind platform is their flagship digital product—a gamification engine that rewards sustainable tourist behaviors—while Doiman integrates operator training, value manifestos, and the DKind web app for destination-level impact measurement.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- DKind (Destination Kind): First Italian digital game that rewards kind gestures and virtuous actions in destinations through gamification, transforming sustainability into a concrete and measurable experience.
Products and services
- DKind (Destination Kind) Italy's first digital gamification platform that rewards kind gestures and virtuous actions in destinations by letting tourists complete quizzes and missions to earn prizes and badges, transforming sustainability into a concrete, engaging, and measurable experience for destinations and tourism boards.
- Doiman An 'impact pact' dedicated to promoting responsible and sustainable tourism through a participatory pathway for tourism operators and tourists, combining a values manifesto, an operator training school, the Open for Kindness campaign, and the DKind web app platform.
- D·WHY (Strategy)
Quantifiable outcome
- 19,000+ global applications for single campaign demonstrating exceptional marketing reach
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Destination Makers
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Destination Makers technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Destination Makers partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and flagship.
- BTO (Buy Tourism Online)coreScientific partner of BTO, Italy's main event on tourism innovation promoted by Regione Toscana and CCIAA of Firenze. CEO Emma Taveri coordinates the 'destination' theme in the Scientific Committee.
- DKind (Destination Kind)coreFirst Italian digital game that rewards kind gestures and virtuous actions in destinations. Created with Fabio Viola and his team. Transforms sustainability into a concrete, engaging and measurable experience for tourists.
- AirbnbmajorCollaborated with Airbnb on Matera 2019 Experience Academy, the first experiential tourism school for Southern Italy. Airbnb contributed platform expertise and team involvement alongside Destination Makers.
- TSM (Trentino School of Management)majorCollaborated on Doiman project for operator training and co-design of sustainability toolkit for tourism businesses in Val di Sole.
- Fondazione Just B ETSflagshipPro bono social impact project accompanying Brindisi towards sustainable, creative and inclusive destination model. Represents the company's heart project as a benefit corporation.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Destination Makers competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Team Turismo: Team Turismo is an Italian tourism consulting firm providing destination strategy, marketing, and training services to public entities and tourism operators. Directly comparable to Destination Makers as a domestic Italian tourism consultancy serving DMOs, municipalities, and trade associations with strategy, marketing, and capacity-building services.
- Mabrian Technologies: Mabrian Technologies is a destination intelligence and tourism sentiment analytics platform serving DMOs, tourism boards, and hospitality groups globally. Comparable to Destination Makers as a B2B tech-enabled service provider that helps destinations measure performance, manage reputation, and make data-driven marketing decisions, though Mabrian focuses on analytics while Destination Makers focuses on community co-design and gamification.
- Travelife: Travelife is a leading sustainability certification, training, and management system for tourism businesses and destinations. Directly comparable to Destination Makers' sustainable tourism enablement work—Travelife provides sustainability toolkits and operator training, while Destination Makers provides co-design methodology and the DKind behavior-change platform to similar B2B tourism customers.
- Green Destinations: Green Destinations is an international sustainable destination certification and quality program operating the Top 100 Sustainable Destinations initiative. Directly comparable as a destination-focused sustainability enablement organization serving DMOs and municipalities with standards, awards, and capacity building—overlapping with Destination Makers' co-design and sustainable tourism consulting practice.
Broad incumbents
- Skift: Skift is the largest travel industry media, research, and events company covering hospitality, tourism, and destination trends globally. Broader incumbent in travel intelligence; while not a direct competitor to Destination Makers' consulting work, Skift's research, Skift Destinations Summit, and trend analysis serve the same DMO and tourism board audience that Destination Makers' methodology addresses.
- ENIT - Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo: ENIT is the Italian National Tourism Board promoting Italy as a destination domestically and internationally. A broader incumbent operating at the national level on destination promotion, compared to Destination Makers' regional and community-level focus. Both serve overlapping public-sector tourism stakeholders in Italy.
- Musement (TUI Musement): Musement is an Italian-founded online platform for booking tours, activities, and destination experiences (acquired by TUI in 2021). Broader incumbent in the Italian destination experiences market with significantly more scale, but it is adjacent rather than directly competitive—Musement distributes experiences while Destination Makers designs and markets destinations for DMOs.
Emerging players
- Kind Traveler: Kind Traveler is a sustainable travel booking platform that donates to environmental causes and curates eco-friendly accommodations and experiences. Emerging player with partial overlap to Destination Makers' sustainable tourism mission, but operating at the consumer/booking layer rather than the DMO consulting and gamification layer that Destination Makers addresses.
Others
- BTO - Buy Tourism Online: BTO (Buy Tourism Online) is Italy's main tourism innovation event and community, promoted by Regione Toscana and CCIAA Firenze. Destination Makers is a scientific partner of BTO and CEO Emma Taveri coordinates its 'destination' theme. BTO is an ecosystem platform and event rather than a direct competitor, but they share the Italian destination-innovation space and audience.
Regional players
- Tourism & Events Queensland (TEQ): TEQ is the statutory DMO for Queensland, Australia, responsible for destination marketing, event attraction, and sustainable tourism strategy. A regional peer operating at a much larger scale (state-level vs. regional Italian) but serving the same DMO function—destination promotion, sustainable tourism programs, and community-based tourism development—relevant to Destination Makers' B2B public-sector offering.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Destination Makers social profiles
Digital presenceDestination Makers financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Destination Makers leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Destination Makers funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Destination Makers M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Destination Makers
What does Destination Makers do?
Destination Makers designs and promotes sustainable, creative, and inclusive destinations by combining territorial marketing with social innovation. It delivers strategic positioning, experience design, community coaching, and creative marketing services to public entities, municipalities, regional tourism boards, and DMOs, and operates the DKind gamification platform that rewards sustainable tourist behaviors in destinations.
Is Destination Makers a public or private company?
Destination Makers is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Destination Makers founded?
Destination Makers was founded in 2014. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Destination Makers based?
Destination Makers is headquartered in Brindisi, Italy, in the Europe region.
How does Destination Makers make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Consulting and Professional Services are the primary driver. The others are digital Platform Licensing.
Who are Destination Makers's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Team Turismo, Mabrian Technologies, Travelife and Green Destinations. Broad incumbents are Skift, ENIT - Agenzia Nazionale del Turismo and Musement (TUI Musement). Kind Traveler is listed as an emerging player. BTO - Buy Tourism Online is listed as an others. Tourism & Events Queensland (TEQ) is listed as a regional player.
Does Destination Makers have an API?
No public API is recorded for Destination Makers.
What industry is Destination Makers in?
Destination Makers's product category is Tourism Consulting Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAAANAK, Visitor Management & Overtourism Mitigation (Capacity Controls, Permitting, Reservations), with a secondary code of THAAANAI, Community-Based & Indigenous Tourism Enablement (Local Ownership, Benefit-Sharing). Its NAICS code is 56152 and its SIC code is 7900.