Outcome mapping the absorptive capacity of destination marketing/management organisations to use sustainability data to inform policy

It is complex to explain how sustainable tourism indicators are incorporated in the governance structures of destination marketing/management organisations (DMMOs) to inform policymaking. This paper develops realist evaluation methods to explain under which conditions four European DMMOs adopt a relevant group of indicators (acquisition), to provide meaning to these indicators (assimilation), which creates the conditions to make indicator-informed decisions (transformation) that can eventually generate benefits attributable to the use of indicators (exploitation). The methodological novelty of this paper is the use of outcome mapping to systematically outline the process of data collection and analysis to reach the context-mechanism-outcome configurations explaining the factors that facilitate or impede the absorptive capacity in these DMMOs. Interventions to increase the uptake of sustainability indicators need to create better opportunities for DMMOs’ formal and informal learning; to use indicators to disrupt prevalent mindsets; with easily understandable data that is perceived as relevant to their needs.