How to Become Accredited

In 2025, subject matter experts revised the standards to align with current industry trends and priorities, as well as core concepts supporting community shared value, social inclusion and welcoming environment strategies.

Each standard requires submitting documents and other evidence of compliance. The current 95 standards fall under 15 topic categories. Standards related to sales and group services, visitor services, and membership are optional only if your organization does not perform these functions.  All other standards are mandatory for compliance.

There are also 20 optional Aspirational Standards. These are standards which are not necessarily established as best practices in the industry, but which are quickly becoming the norm. It is the expectation that Aspirational Standards will become required standards someday. The applicant does not need to meet these standards to become accredited but must meet at least 10 of the 20 standards to be eligible for Accreditation with Distinction.

Learn All About the Standards

The DMAP applications are online and are housed in the DMAP portal. The application process requires the organization to submit documentary evidence of compliance with each mandatory standard. All materials remain confidential.

For example, Standard 1.01 states, “The destination organization or its parent organization has articles of incorporation (or similar legal documentation) filed with or provided by its governing jurisdiction.” To meet this standard, the DMO must upload a copy of articles of incorporation.

There are two types of applications, the Accreditation Application (typically the first time your organization is applying for DMAP Accreditation) and the Reaccreditation Application. 

Accreditation lasts for five years.

Accreditation Application:

• The application is made up of 95 standards plus 20 optional aspirational standards.
• Organizations must pay the application fee before beginning the application.
• An organization has one year from the date of payment to submit their initial accreditation application.
• An applicant guide and resources will be provided after payment.
• Trained DMAP reviewers, including DMAP Board members, typically complete full application reviews within 60-90 days.  
• Accreditation determinations are made quarterly by the DMAP Board. 

Once your application is submitted, a staff member will review it. Then, it will be assigned to reviewers from the DMAP Board of Directors and/or our pool of DMAP Ambassadors. These reviewers will remain anonymous to you throughout the process.

If your reviewers find one or more standard incomplete or non-compliant, the application will be returned to you with detailed notes, and you will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit the application. This process may repeat as many times as necessary. Applicants are not penalized for revising and re-submitting their applications. Once all reviewers are satisfied that all standards are compliant, your application will be referred to the DMAP Board for consensus approval via a quarterly vote.

This full process may take 90 days or more, depending on rounds of revisions and the number of applications we are processing concurrently.

Destinations International members receive big discounts off DMAP fees. Learn about DI membership.

• There is an initial accreditation application fee.
• To maintain accreditation status, DMOs pay an annual progress report fee three times, in cycle years 2 – 4.  
• In the fifth year of the cycle, DMOs may pay their reaccreditation application fee, submit the reaccreditation application, and start the cycle over again.

All DMAP fees can be processed within the DMAP Platform via credit card, or email us to request an invoice.