While I am committed to promoting sustainability in tourism, I am sure that we can do better. Sure - I know many destinations are struggling just to ensure that tourism is not a destructive force in their communities.But just not being bad isn't good enough...
Surf City USA really gets sustainable tourism. The folks at Visit Huntington Beach realized that their long term success meant protecting the environment, and celebrating the culture of the iconic SoCal Surf City while ensuring the visitor economy remained vibrant. In other words - they recognized the importance of sustainable tourism and took an active role in promoting within the destination. To support industry and community adoption of sustainable tourism they produced some great materials that explain sustainability and provide action tips to visitors, business owners and the community. To get the...
One of the real challenges in creating change for sustainable tourism is creating meaningful support for practitioners. We know what needs to be done - but it is hard to do. Seth Godin's Blog "How to Draw an Owl" captures the problem perfectly. Its easy to draw the two circles that form the basic structure of the owl - but the challenge is in drawing the rest of the damn owl...
Bain and Company, one of the world's leading consultancy companies, recently released their report - "Great Green Talent Machine" touting the importance of CSR in recruiting talent. This is the latest in a series of articles and papers highlighting the importance of corporate reputation and values, often best expressed through their CSR activities, as a factor in attracting talent. So what if you are the "talent"? You are attracted to the company and now you want to work with them. How do you get the job ? What do recruiters...
I love getting out into nature. It refreshes and invigorates me. Many of my favorite memories include visits to national parks - in both Australia and the US. My love of nature also inspires my concern for sustainability. So - I worry that fewer people are visiting national parks and natural places. It isn't surprising - most camping experiences are really only appealing to a relatively small group of people. Most camp grounds I've been to have basic facilities at best ( and filthy disgusting facilities at worst), require campers...
Most destinations marketers are familiar with the principles of target marketing. Targeting the right message to move a specific group of consumers through the buying process is standard operating practice at most DMOs. It is surprising how few DMOs use the same principles of targeting their message to specific groups within the destination. Often the communication with these stakeholder groups is “one size fits all”. Of course, “one size fits all” normally means that no one is getting what they need. This point was made clear to me during a...
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is one of the key drivers of sustainable tourism. The tourism system involves many actors all working to deliver a customer experience. There is little in the way of "top down, command and control" in tourism. So - without the active participation of companies - and the managers that run those companies - it is difficult to imagine the tourism system becoming more sustainable. In a recent study led by Diana Chan Yu, we examined the drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility in hotels in China....
http://www.boeing.com/stories/videos/vid_17_ecodemonstrator.html Air travel is the biggest single contributor to Greenhouse Gases in the tourism system. Airplane manufacturers work to reduce emissions even as demand for new plans increases. Nice to see some progress...
Flipping through the pages of most high end consumer travel magazines - Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast Travel and the like - exposes the curious to some of the most luxurious brands on the planet. These magazines are the showcases for some of today's most upmarket consumer brands and the content of the magazines - both the editorial and the advertising - reflect the interests of these affluent readers. At first glance- it may seem that these interests are exclusively self centered but a closer examination shows that issues of...
I remember the conversation vividly. We were driving to University, making small talk and the question came up "when do you know you are an adult?" I was pretty sure I felt adult at the time ...