Destination marketing industry software giant iDSS collaborated with Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) at their recent annual convention in New Orleans, La., to integrate DMAI’s new, revolutionary Event Impact Calculator into the iDSS software system. This integration will be among the first in the industry to provide this level of seamless communication.

This new Event Impact Calculator will provide destination marketing organizations (DMOs, or convention and visitors bureaus/associations [CVBs/CVAs]) measurement of the economic value of an event and calculate the event’s return on investment to the local community. Armed with this information, DMOs will be better prepared to demonstrate the relevance of events and the impact of using tax dollars to develop and grow the sector using highly localized data. The new calculator will become available on or around Oct. 1, and the integration to the iDSS platform will happen approximately Feb. 1, 2012. The calculator includes eight different sources of data presented in one cohesive report that includes direct and indirect visitor spending, jobs and wages and tax impacts.

iDSS is an industry-leading customer record management (CRM)/content management system (CMS) platform that DMOs use to automate their business activities so that they are consolidated in a single platform. Based in Minneapolis, Minn., USA, iDSS has clients in the United States and across the world.

DMAI is the world’s largest and most reliable resource official DMOs. Nearly 650 DMOs rely on DMAI for critical data, educational resources, networking opportunities and marketing activities.