MEET ECB MEMBERS: DMC NORDIC ESTONIA
DMC Nordic Estonia is a full-service destination management company in Tallinn. We sat down with the company’s country Marianna Bühler and MICE Manager Anne Nelling to dive into the immersive world of DMC Nordic Estonia and reveal what they recommend to international clients visiting Estonia.
Please briefly introduce DMC Nordic Estonia to our readers. Who are you, when was the company created and what is your main line of business?
DMC Nordic Estonia is part of DMC Nordic Group, which operates in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia, and offers destination management and tour operation services. The DMC Nordic Group aims to provide professional travel management services to international clients throughout the Nordic and Baltic regions. The success of the DMC Nordic Group is based on extensive local knowledge and partnerships. It’s perfect for incentive programmes to motivate staff, memorable product launches and special learning programmes that provide a unique experience to your valued workforce.
The history of DMC Nordic Group dates back to the 1980s, when the company was founded in Denmark. In fact, our Danish office just celebrated its 40th anniversary! DMC now stands for ‘Destination Management Company’. Back when the company was first established, DMC meant ‘Destination Management Copenhagen’, but the acronym later became a perfect fit for other companies in the group as well.
DMC Nordic Estonia began operations in 2006. DMC Nordic Estonia has two areas of expertise: the ground handling of cruise ships and the organisation of congress services, incentive trips, corporate events, meetings, conferences and study trips.
Who are your main clients and what kind of services does DMC Nordic Estonia offer?
We’re ready and able to help with event design from A to Z – bus transfers, accommodation, venues and AV for events, entertainment programmes, tours, social programmes, lunches and dinners, gala nights, food and beverage tasting events, corporate visits, indoor and outdoor teambuilding activities, and much more besides, always based on the client’s individual needs and wishes!
What are the sizes of the groups you provide services to? What is the largest group that you have provided services to with DMC Nordic Estonia, and how do you ensure a smooth experience for such large groups?
We don’t set limits to the size of the group. We have extensive experience and expertise in servicing large cruise ships with three to four thousand passengers. Thanks to this, we have the skills and capability to manage huge groups of people. The size of the group is only limited by the capacity of the chosen venue, as Estonia is, after all, a boutique destination. Smaller groups of twenty to thirty people are also very welcome. In fact, we don’t let any idea be held back by the size of the group.
What are the most popular group programmes or tours that DMC Nordic Estonia offers to its clients?
We offer our clients programmes tailored specifically to their needs and preferences, depending on the time of year, budget and time availability. We’re always happy to offer educational walking or cycling tours in the pristine natural environment – you can even explore the city by bike – and to provide events that introduce Estonian culture and traditions through food and music experiences.
Over the years you have provided services to many international clients. What are some of the places or experiences in Estonia that foreign visitors particularly love or are surprised by?
Foreign visitors always notice how green, clean and nature-friendly Estonia is – they frequently say it’s easier to breathe here. People praise Estonia for its rapid development, the high quality of Estonian restaurants and hotels, and the modernity of conference rooms.
You’ve been in the business for 17 years. How have the wishes and expectations of your clients changed over this time, and how have you responded to these changes?
Increasingly often, clients look for personalised and unique experiences – hybrid events with broad spectrum appeal – and they want the services offered to them to be different from the norm. Clients value authentic experiences that give them a real sense of the local life. Tailored services are definitely more time-consuming and require more resources, but understanding clients’ feedback and wishes helps us meet the changing expectations. We believe that our knowledge of clients and excellent long-standing relationships with our partners are the core assets that allow us to respond to change effectively.
Congratulations on recently becoming a Travelife Partner! What is the Travelife certification and why did you decide to apply for it?
Thank you! Our team is very excited about it. Travelife is an international certification body that is dedicated to promoting environmentally friendly and sustainable tourism, offering a variety of sustainability programmes and green tours to suit all tastes. As we provide cruise ship services, we realised the importance of sustainability many years ago, and started to move towards applying and qualifying for the sustainable tourism certificate. DMC Nordic Estonia currently holds the Travelife Partner status, which is an important step on the way to the Travelife Certified status.
And lastly, if a corporate group arrives in Tallinn and wants to combine business meetings with a city tour and a cultural experience, what kind of sample programme would you recommend for them?
Sample programme:
- Group of 30 people
- Time: May
- Duration: 3 days
As May evenings are long in Estonia, there’s plenty of time to spend your evenings in the fresh air after meetings. Therefore, for meeting planning, it really is the ideal place to unwind after a productive discussion.
In addition to meetings, we offer:
- A city tour with visits to church towers (some are only accessible by stairs, others are equipped with lifts): the views from high above are genuinely spectacular!
- An exclusive concert (jazz, choral, early music or even indie pop) in one of the courtyards in Old Town, followed by a feast true to that era
- A cycling tour of the city with a seaside picnic and the chance to admire the sunset, which can be combined with catching and smoking fish; everyone is welcome to try their hand at line fishing!
- A bog-shoe hiking tour to discover if the pine trees growing in the bog are real, or if they’ve been shaped into bonsai by human hand
Further information and Bookings:
DMC Nordic Estonia, estonia@dmc-nordic.com
Marketing Manager
Posted: 20.11.2023
Categories: Activities | Blog
