Defying advice and going against the belief that a representation company could not survive Australia and New Zealand’s volatile 1990s tourism industry, managing director Leila Fiedler (pictured above centre with friends and associates) has watched her company grow from strength to strength. Today, DMS employs 12 staff and represents more than 40 worldwide leading business partners including destination management companies (DMCs), hotels, resorts and venues.
At a gathering for industry colleagues last month, Ms Fiedler said it took her three years to work up the courage to start the company, and rates as one of her best supporters for doing so as Bryan Holliday of ICMS Australasia (pictured bottom left).
“I found a complete niche that was not known yet in the Australian market and this was the representation of destination management companies,” she said.
“DMS was growing steadily until September 11, when suddenly our phones went dead; all our business partners stayed with us, but most of them could not pay us the fee. We had The Bali Bombing, we had SARS, The Gulf War. We went through an extremely tough time. It was clear to us then that we had to develop a separate hotel division to the DMCs division and through Unique Venues we now represent amongst many others two large and still growing hotel chains - Fairmont & Raffles Hotels and quite a few one-off properties.
“You, the industry, has been supportive at all times - from airlines, to national tourist offices, the media, to incentive houses and the conference organisers. You always give us the chance to bid on a piece of business. The one vision [for the future] is to always stay passionate at what we do, do our best, to stay professional, ethical, and remain the number one representation company.”
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