DestiCorp 2.0

Can we Create "Intelligent" Destinations?

The trigger for this post came from another that I came across today by The IdeaHive and a conversation held late last night with a friend who asked:  “Why do we call tourism an industry?  It makes it sound so mechanical and sterile.”

I sighed internally at my friend’s question – not because it isn’t a very good question – but simply because I have spent the past 20 years arguing that tourism should not be viewed as an industry. The question rem inded me that I seem to have failed miserably in convincing others of that view. My sadness stems from a belief that until we change the way we "see" tourism, we'll continue down a destructive path.

In 1991, drawing my inspiration from Shakespeare I argued that tourism was not an industrial machine but a living organism, a body – a “body politic of tourism” with the flesh, bones and organs equivalent to its diverse sectors (lodging, transport, attractions etc); the energy and blood flow being the market; and the arteries and veins being the in and outbound transport sector. I further argued that the tourism body wasn’t a closed, self-contained structure but an open dynamic system involving complex sets of relationships - even thoughTim Berners Lee hadn’t even dreamed up the world wide web at that point. At that time, DMO managers and tourism operators thought I was either irrelevant or simply being academic – and I can’t blame them. What has a worldview got to do with putting “bums in beds tonight”? 

So you can imagine my excitement when the Internet did become reality and we started to think about creating a “digital nervous system” for tourism destinations that increased their intelligence. The vision was consolidated back in 1998 when we suggested at ENTER 98 that

The challenge at hand is to use the glue of information combined with the wires of telecommunication to bind the discrete elements of a region’s tourism industry into an intelligent whole; into an intelligent enterprise that is sensitive (can anticipate the demands of a marketplace before they are fully expressed); creative (can develop products and services that add value); and nimble – can generate more value faster than the competition.

We started developing an "Intelligent Destination Management System" and, as there were precious few systems  at the time, I was criticized by several academics at the conference for being pretentious in applying the adjective “intelligent.” But I had my reasons….

In terms of implementation and, with technology that was infinitely more cumbersome and expensive than today, a number of us made rapid progress developing and installing multi-functional information systems that enabled one rich database about products and providers to be distributed electronically across a number of channels (over-the-counter information and booking systems in Tourist Information Centres; kiosks, online information search, retrieval and booking systems via the web) – and all before 2001 when the “dot.com” bubble burst delaying the emergence of web services and proliferation of mobile apps for nearly a decade. 

But sadly what we didn’t shift was the metaphor for understanding the nature and structure of the industry and that is now what’s holding tourism back from realizing its full potential. Because the primary perceptual filter is that of machine and or assembly plant along which inanimate products are packaged for consumption by consumer markets; we’re not harnessing the creative force underpinning the phenomenon as effectively as we could. Machines don’t evolve or self-organize, people do. Tourism is a living system because it comprises people who live in and are supported by living systems. Ironically, the best innovative thinking within destination tourism is coming from those closest to technology not because of their technical knowledge but because they are applying a more effective mental model (ie a living network). The larger tourism community, on the other hand, is stuck because its leaders haven’t changed their mental models from static machine to living ecosystem. 

Other parts of our economy are changing their mental models as the full impact of what it means to be living in a globally connected network sinks in. Which leads me to The Ideahive post The author, likely influenced by such luminaries as Peter Russel (The Awakening Earth, 1976)  and  Howard Bloom (the Global Brain)  suggest that to deal with the global challenges facing our species we need to choose to become part of an emerging global mind.  I’ve quoted The Beehive post extensively below and ask my readers to read it with a tourism destination in mind. Ask yourself what might happen if we applied an understanding of neural networks to the way we do tourism? How could we apply their formula for success – either for competitive advantage or, better still, to create a better world?  How can we help destinations smarten up – because if they don’t, they’ll find their sterile, machine-like products as empty and ghostly as the badly planned,  vacant condos littering some costa somewhere on the Mediterranean. 

Here's the contribution from the The Beehive:

Imagine yourself as a neuron. You are connected to many other neurons. You are continuously receiving information from many different directions, deciding which information to pay attention to, and which not. You are constantly synthesizing this flow of information into some form of meaning — a best understanding of the current situation —  and then you share that best understanding with your friends. If neuron Bob is telling me that he thinks we don’t need to worry about global warming, and yet neuron Sarah is telling me that global warming is causing the flooding in Pakistan, then how do I make sense of that, what is the story I tell to others as a result?

What ends up happening, over time, is that each neuron starts to pay more attention to those connections whose information helps make most sense of the world, and pay less attention to those connections whose information increases confusion.

This creates a network that is an integrated, living mirror of the reality that it is experiencing. It is a system that is in a continual process of refining its model of the world, so that its experience of reality makes more sense. This is because it is only from seeing a world that makes some kind of sense, that you can begin to take more effective action.

The function of your brain it to make sense of your world; the function of your social network is to make sense of your collective world, whose complexity requires far more than a single human brain to understand.

By  learning from the stories of others, we can paint a better shared picture to achieve a clearer understanding of the world.

From this understanding arises an equation that describes the potential for a social network to leave a dent in the universe:

O x C x D x A x P = Better Future

O: the openness with which each node deals with information of all kind: its active willingness to learn — (multiplied by)

C: the amount of creative energy each node puts into the network: its willingness to synthesize & share (multiplied by)

D: the cognitive diversity of the network, so that we can collectively see things from the widest range of deeply informed viewpoints possible (multiplied by)

A: the degree of access to resource networks (multiplied by)

P: its shared focus around a common purpose to create a better future for all

This is the formula for how to be part of global mind.

Choose to act as if you are one of the neurons, to help create a better future

Perhaps so called "destination managers/marketers" might find it useful to take a closer look at the work emerging from neuroscience... more  to follow.

On Homecoming and Wayfinding - re-thinking sustainable tourism

It’s rare that I have to turn down the chance to speak because of a date conflict. But on Feb 18^th, I couldn’t be in two places at once. I had to forgo the chance to speak at  TEDX in Whistler because of a previous commitment to speak at the TIDES Conference in Samoa, a mere 15,000 miles away.

I’d never been to the South Pacific before and it turned out to be one place that exceeded even my expectations – my imagination stimulated at a young age by the Rogers and Hammerstein musical of the same name!

Despite having made a living from this phenomenon called “tourism” (as researcher, planner, marketer, educator, strategist and visionary-futurist), I have always experienced a love-hate relationship with it. I have seen mass tourism bring both pleasure and benefit to many, but also change landscapes, carelessly consume precious resources, and destroy cultures ironically in areas that, hitherto,  had lived in a sustainable manner for thousands of years

My personal wake up call occurred concurrently with my 40^th birthday, some twenty years ago, when I attended PATA’s Annual Conference in Bali at the shiny new, purpose-built tourism complex/ghetto at Nusa Dua.  What I experienced there sickened me to the core and I nearly quit working in tourism for good. In a mere 16 years, much of the Bali I had encountered and fallen in love with in 1972 had disappeared. I had been so privileged to experience a sustainable, cohesive, vibrant culture having first stepped on its bounteous shores when there was no electricity on the island (the Balinese enjoyed complete food security, producing enough on the island to meet their needs), when life continued as it had done for thousands of years, when generous acts of hospitality were extended for no thought of gain, when there was no begging, when every act (including the renting of a motorbike) was considered sacred; and where communities met under Banyen trees to the warm light of candles and Tilley lamps and relived the myths and legends through shadow puppet plays and complex dance and story telling. My experience there was profoundly transformative and started a spiritual journey that has lasted a lifetime.

So it was with some trepidation that I set off for Samoa and it was with huge delight that I discovered a place committed to “being itself” while being under enormous pressure to welcome investment and change and attract visitors back to this beautiful island.  I was speaking at a conference designed to attract investment in a tourism “industry” that accounts for some 35% of GDP;  that is the primary source of export revenue; and that had recently been knocked back by the force of a devastating Tsunami.

As it is only for Samoans to determine their future and chose the kind of economy they can grow and sustain, I felt the best thing I could do was instill confidence that Samoans could, with wise choices, sustain their deeply held values and attract a kind of visitor who would align with those values and respect their unique culture and setting. I had been given a great title – Investing in Future Values – that enabled me to show how industrial tourism was based on a set of assumptions that are now being challenged and discarded; and that there is a growing market for authentic experiences of diverse cultures and a desire by visitors to find meaning as well as accrue souvenirs from their travel. I went so far as to suggest that, for many,  a trip to Samoa (which means sacred center) might be likened to that of a prodigal son’s homecoming. 

The essence of my message, is that the industrial model is, just that, a model of reality based on a set of assumptions that are only now being examined and rejected. Within so-called developed societies, there is growing evidence within every aspect of human endeavour that a new paradigm is emerging and western societies have much to learn from those indigenous cultures our industrial system has so often threatened with destruction.  Western society is literally “coming home” and back into a balance with the biosphere that is considered vital by societies we have falsely labeled as less developed. 

Anna Pollock Investing In Future Values

View more presentations from Anna Pollock.

While preparing for this talk, I became captivated and intrigued by the story of Polynesia’s development and their skill in long-distance navigation, a process known as The Art of Wayfinding.  Thousands of years ago, brave navigators and sailors of large canoes, set off into the eastern sunrise to find new lands, sailing vast distances against the prevailing winds with no navigational instruments through a process of dead reckoning. Navigators spent years learning how to read the sky, stars, currents, clouds and behaviour of marine life to determine their position and direction. This “Wayfinding” is not just a skill but a metaphor, a paradigm or mindset that enables a people to navigate their world. One of the most recent and accessible descriptions of the marvels of Polynesian culture takes the form of a chapter of a new book by Wade Davis, called The Wayfinders. Based on the Massey Lectures delivered in Canada last year. Davis describes how the holistic science and art of wayfinding is based on dead reckoning. 

“You only know where you are by knowing precisely where you have been and how you got to where you are. One’s position at any one time is determined solely on the basis of distance and direction travelled since leaving the last known point. You don’t look up at the stars and know where you are, you need to know where you have come from by memorizing from where you have sailed.” And, just as importantly, you need to see your destination clearly in your mind, if you ever wish to find it in an ocean as vast as the Pacific.

In the spirit of wayfinding, let me look back to where I started this post – reminiscing about a place that existed before industrial values triumphed over indigenous ones; and dreaming about a new place where a different kind of tourism activity could occur.  I also mentioned TEDX in Whistler, recent host to the world – is it coincidence or synchrony that the keynote speaker, standing on the podium I was also intended to occupy, was none other than Wade Davis who proposed brilliantly that sustainable tourism should be about visiting and learning from the indigenous peoples of the world! 

If there ever was a time when we need to find our way, to develop a new way of doing tourism, it is now. Such change can only happen when we open up our minds to new and different models of reality – when we change our mindsets, our worldviews, our paradigm. For many this will be a homecoming; for others it will represent a discovery of a new land, but, regardless of which, it is time to shift now and seek new navigators for the journey ahead. Wade’s TEDX presentation is a really good place to start:

Click this link to see Wade's TedX presentation:

 

A Tale of Two Men and Two Canadas

Indirectly and directly Lester B Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada (1963-1968) saved many American lives and put this country on the international map. During the depths of the Vietnam war, it was customary for some American backpackers to sew the new Canadian Maple`flag (which Pearson introduced) on their backpacks to avoid being recognized as Americans.  Pearson also introduced universal health care, student loans, the Canada Pension Plan and helped raise Canada's status as a country and sustain its reputation as a peace keeper concerned about the developing world. 

How things change. Now many countries in the Commonwealth wish Canada to leave and the green backpackers are likely removing the maple leaf from their packs. Our international reputation and appeal as a country is in quick descent as evidenced in the Guardian article here and a few concerned citizens have assumed responsibility for presenting Canada's  brand to the world - see previous post on Reputation.

Increasingly Canada' s pristine image of wilderness stretching inifinitely into the horizon is being tarnished by scarred images of black, bitumen encrusted deserts. as described by John Vidal in this four minute video here: 

 

 

  

While Harper's policies were in alignment with the Bush administration - the world is literally and metaphorically a lumberyard to be exploited - the new US administration are expressing a different view (even if they are constrained by a conflicted Congress) and even China is shifting its position..

But this is not just a tale of two men but two countries. While Harper and the national government are dragging their feet on issues like climate change, Canadian leaders at the community level (across provinces, in cities and on First Nations lands) are actively stewarding the land and acting responsibly. While men in suits prevaricate in cities, hoards of caring individuals with varying levels of political status are showing they care about the land and are protecting Canada's vast forests as best they can as described in another article here. There are plenty of reasons to be both proud and stand on guard for Canada.

  

Canada's boreal forest - all 1.3 billion acres of it - stores the equivalent of 27 years' worth of current global greenhouse emissions, soaking up 22% of the total carbon stored on the earth's land surface. If that dries out, the release of greenhouse gases would be catastrophic. 

So given that we Canadians may have lost any right to tell the world what to do and how to behave (and appear to have little appetite to do that anyway), we can focus on conserving the precious green resources that provide the scenic backdrop to every tourist photo, provide succour to many of our iconic critters (beaver, moose and bear), soak up our carbon and provide the clean air we breathe. This is no longer a philanthropic action on the part of the tourism community but vital to its long term survival and credibility. Regardless of whether you believe climate change is occurring or even caused by human activity, simple housekeeping logic suggests that failure to take care of the food in the larder avoids hunger or sickness.

Will DMOs* survive the next decade?

I was recently asked to write a paper on the likely changing role of DMOs. Having spent my entire career working with this institution in various parts of the globe, and intending to do so going forward, I’ve a keen interest in an accurate answer. 

This afternoon, two blog posts from very reputable sources caught my attention: 

Douglas Quimby from Phocuswright wrote a post titled Destinations: The Online Marketing Disconnect, justifiably bemoaning the fact that DMOs seem so unwilling to move significant chunks of their marketing budgets into the online space. I don’t know Douglas personally, but hope to meet up with him at the PhocusWright Conference in Florida mid November. I imagine him to be a bright, talented Gen X or Yer who ”gets it” i.e finds it impossible to imagine how destinations couldn’t see the obvious benefits of playing aggressively in the online space. 

The commentators to his post are each highly credentialed to speak and deplored the lack of appropriate measuring tools, lack of expertise and education. I suggested that the real problem is “culture” and to see why, please follow the thread…here.  As further evidence of the challenge, I’d  also recommend you read the last blog post from Vicky at Highland Business Research:  It Shouldn’t be This Difficult.   In this post, I can hear the frustrated anguish of someone who is incredibly talented and productive appear to hit a wall or be pushing a boulder up hill. I’m hoping it was her last blog post because she is sunning herself on a beach and has not given up the DMO community for good. 

The second very different post was from a DMO executive – one of the leading lights in social media (and, don’t get me wrong, there are many very talented people in DMOs pushing the edge of the envelope- see my blog roll as a starter. Troy from Denver was writing for the new e-marketing and travel site called, Toonz.com that should be bookmarked quickly by anyone in travel marketing. His post was called How The Industry Will Save the World – so you can see why it got my attention!!

Troy has a brilliant reputation for applying social media to marketing destinations.  So this was quite a step away from his normal territory. Having identified that climate change is an important issue, he appears to be applying travel marketers’ normal and contagious enthusiasm and proposes:  

The time has arrived to lend our voice to the congregation and become a part of the solution.  The travel industry…utilizing technology…can help lead the way.

Well I really hope so. And I welcome Troy and his highly talented e-marketing peers to join the conversation – quickly. But I doubt that the travel industry will save the world – if it’s at all fortunate, it might just save itself. But only if the DMOs recognize and own up to the fact that they are a major part of the problem. The transport cost of most international tourists constitute the bulk of carbon emissions. No one currently takes responsibility for that.  Tourism has to change if it is to make a positive contribution to a very different economy that is emerging from the melting rubble of the old. 

Take my word for it. There are no quick fixes. The current leadership of the tourism “industry” has first to shift its perception and see tourism as the analogue extension of the IT community – both simply connect people and places. They need to work together and fast to find a way of enabling the act of travel to coexist with the act of communication. Both have to find a way of delivering value without living beyond the physical means of the environment to support it. 

In summary – there are two major forces threatening and re-shaping DMOs: 

1. The need to deploy technology effectively or get out of the way; and 

2. The need to ensure destinations can live within the physical limits set by the host environment. 

DMOs could play a positive role in each endeavour but it will mean seeing things differently (a mindset shift); doing things differently ( a culture shift) and doing different things – a role change. Nothing serious – but certainly NOT “business as usual!!!”

To quote Troy – let the conversation continue but PLEASE may it soon lead to action. A good place to start is to join and support The Icarus Foundation, formed some 3 years ago to encourage the tourism industry to become more climate friendly. 

But  now we've started a conversation: what do think DMOs have to do to survive the next decade?

* DMO is the acronym used to describe Destination Marketing Organizations (responsible for attracting visitors to a place).

UK Tour Operators Lead in Thinking About the Future

Kudos to ABTA, British Airways, Carnival UK, Co-operative Travel, The Travel Foundation and TUI Travel plc  and Forum For The Future for leading the way towards some really thoughtful and intelligent debate on the future of outbound tourism.

The report, Tourism 2023, available here, should be mandatory reading for every tourism destination. It’s highly readable, full of substance and deliciously thought provoking. 

Even though it doesn’t quite achieve its own objectives – i.e. “to set out a clear vision of a profitable, successful future in which the travel and tourism industry recognizes its wider responsibilities to society,” it does makes a very good start. While designed to help the signatories identify and address the complex environmental, social and economic issues affecting outbound tourism, it contains enormous food for thought for all places that attract visitors.   

The talented team at Forum for the Future apply a scenario planning approach to paint a picture of four possible futures based on the inter-play of two key variables: the appeal of overseas travel and the presence of inhibitors to overseas travel. 


The four scenarios represent a caricature of a possible future but are described with compelling detail and logic. Sadly,  none is particularly attractive!

1.    Boom and Burst describes a world in which mass tourism continues to grow fast and furiously based on disposable incomes rising in developed economies and the middle classes of emerging economies exercising their right to roam the planet.  It’s a similar forecast to that outlined in the HBR article: Tourism: The Ticking Time Bomb and describes overcrowded, congested iconic destinations and the disappearance of wilderness. 

2.    Divided Disquiet describes a different world in which devastating impacts from climate change, resource scarcity and social unrest have rendered the planet as unstable and hostile; protectionism is rife, yet where the most popular form of  tourism is “doomsday tourism” with a few tourists wealthy or brave enough flock to see places before they disappear. 

3.    In the Price and Privilege scenario, high oil prices have also caused the cost of travel to soar. Many companies couldn’t cope with the efficiency gains needed and went out of business. Capacity shrank and long-haul travel reverted to the aspirational luxury status associated with the turn of the century. 

4.    Carbon Clampdown describes a possible future in which the high cost of carbon , combined with growing environmental awareness and concern, make travel both uneconomic and anti-social.  Tradeable  carbon quotas restrict demand and economies are more localized. 

I simply cannot do justice to this useful piece of work  in a short blog post, so will likely revisit the topic – often. I am also loath to be critical as I would hate to discourage others from showing such thought leadership. But there are some serious limitations – most likely reflecting the fact that a consortium commissioned the work and each company would probably like to think and respond to its findings privately.  

While no one can argue with the six motherhood principles for creating a sustainable future, the three areas where they say urgent action is needed sound lame and self serving: 

1. The industry needs to demonstrate and monitor the economic benefit tourism delivers to destination communities to help protect them for the future and increase their appeal and value to customers. (The insertion of the word NET before benefit would have made this objective so much more credible as it’s the destinations that generally bear the external costs and not the tour operators)      

2. Low carbon innovation – the industry needs to focus on trialling new technologies and taking them to scale; increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and use more renewables. (Of course, but why not set a big hairy audacious goal and say that enterprises based on the grownd will go carbon neutral while we strive to find less harmful ways of getting airplanes to stay airborne?)
                     
3. Driving Customer demand – develop further insight into what will motivate people to take sustainable holidays. (At no point is a “sustainable holiday”  defined nor is the problem addressed. Vacationers could all stay at low impact facilities and drive around in hybrid or electric cars but if the industry as a whole continues to grow at 5% per annum and increases its demand for concrete and kerosene at the same rate, it wouldn't qualify as sustainable)

Tourism 2023 does conclude with a proposed strategic approach that outlines the areas above in slightly more detail and provides one important target – that the outbound industry will sign up to the WTTC target of a 50% reduction in emissions by 2035. It also references the Global Sustainable Criteria but doesn’t go as far as Walmart, for example, in setting a Sustainability Index for the members of the supply chain. 

In addition to the good content and imaginative scenarios, the report does, however, throw down the gauntlet to the managers and policy makers in tourism destinations everywhere.  These are the agencies that should be doing this kind of work – aren’t destinations supposed to determine the kind of tourism they wish to attract and help their businesses operate in a sustainable and beneficial fashion and ensure that their communities benefit not suffer from the influx of tourists? It’s sad and ironic that such public agencies have been upstaged by a handful of tour operators but not necessarily a bad thing….over to you DMOs...... The stage is now set for some action from you…..How are you thinking about the future?

Birdsong in England, Hot Air from Washington and Bubbles in the Arctic - what's the connection?

I write this sitting quietly in a log cabin located in the midst of a lush and quintessentially English cottage garden. It's misty outside but the song birds are celebrating the close of another magnificent and a seemingly normal Spring day. So far this year, we've experienced a normal set of seasons - a cold winter, windy and showery spring and prospects of a hot summer ahead. Even Wimbledon is prepared with its new roof and there'll be strawberries and cream as usual with the chance to forget the financial meltdown - even while another meltdown continues to take place with disproportionately less fanfare and sense of gloom. It's in this context that a growing sense of complacency within the business community, and especially the tourism community, regarding the climate change threat, should come as no surprise. The financial crisis, the ensuing recession and the dramatic declines in visitors, revenues and yields have diverted our attention to less scary, more familiar issues.

Next week, the American travel industry will launch yet another campaign extolling the virtues of travel with the headline "Travel Matters!" suggesting that travel can be the primary engine of economic recovery and is good for our health.  The Q & A sheet in support of the campaign complains that business travel has been "mischaracterized" and makes the following arguments in defence of leisure travel:

Leisure travel is important because it’s essential to good health. Travelers rate their overall health one full point higher (on a scale of 1 to 5) while on vacation. And they receive three times more sleep after vacations and sleep almost 20 minutes longer. An annual vacation can cut a person’s risk of heart attack by 50 percent.

Of course "travel matters" but so does health care, the production of quality yet affordable food, the care of our elderly, the education and safety of our young etc. If the slogan was "Travel Cares" and was backed with the actions that tourism is taking to address the real issues facing humanity right now, I could back it.

In the meantime, "nature" knows nothing of our human issues.Nature simply obeys implacable laws with no regard to their impacts on our human psyches and what we consider to be our well being. Nature simply and relentlessly adapts. And adaptation is what is happening in the Arctic. As temperatures rise and more ice melts so the gazillions of microbes embedded in the permafrost start to feed on the decaying vegetable matter trapped beneath the surface. Their process of consumption - like ours - emits waste but their waste (methane gas)  is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than Co2.

If you harboured any lngering doubts that climate change would seriously and intensively affect your life or that of your children, then think again and read this article or watch the video from the LA Times last week . Bubbles of warming, beneath the ice - Los Angeles Times.

Methane is one of the wild cards that the IPCC scientists recognized as potentially aggravating the problem but did not,  dare not, include in their forecasts.

Moral of this tale? If we want to enjoy the birdsong and avoid the bubbles. we'll need more than rhetoric and hot air......