Tourism is the largest industry in the world - and yet it is still called the "invisible industry". Well - maybe it isn't invisible - but it is hidden in plain site. Tourism and the visitor economy is right under our noses - but we don't recognize it. In some ways this lack of awareness starts in school. For example, as a school kid, we went on field trips and camps and we often seemed to find ourselves at farms set up to welcome students and show them agriculture. While I...

14 May, 2015 /

Sustainability and Social Responsibility are are the driving force behind the Top 5 trends in restaurants in the U.S. according to the National Restaurant Association. The top food trends, according to the  National Restaurant Association Culinary Forecast 2015 are locally sourced meat, seafood and produce and environmental sustainability. Why do DMO managers need to know this ? Because this trend is helping them meet their goals of improving the economic and social well being of their destination communities.  We are all becoming familiar with infographics touting the economic benefits of tourism....

13 May, 2015 /

Tourism is a system. A big, complex, ever changing, system. Within the tourism system are thousands of embedded systems. Each destination, each distribution channel, each sector - is a system. Each system is unique. ...

12 May, 2015 /

Is this a good brand ? An important question but almost always asked in the wrong context.  "Is this a good brand" almost always asks for a judgement on a logo or a tagline or a creative execution.  Brand is far more than a logo or a tagline. Destinations need to focus on what creates their brand image...

07 January, 2015 /

Seth Godin nailed it (again) with this short post. In a couple of words he describes the reason for massive changes in destination marketing and management. Marketing used to be ...

03 September, 2014 /

Companies wishing to be socially responsible face a world of good and important causes. Over the last few months I have been looking at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the tourism industry and I have been amazed at the wide number of issues that fall under the topic of CSR.  Clearly, no company can address every issue - we simply can't be everything to everyone. Choosing "the fights' that are important to the company and its stakeholders is critical in managing this process. A recent article on adding discipline to...

13 August, 2014 /

At a recent conference one of the speakers reminded the audience that tourism takes place at the acquiescence of the community. I thought the statement was eloquent and expressed an important idea...

10 August, 2014 /

So often, tourism is a "bit player" in the health of a community. In the traditional models of tourism,  tour operators come and - at best - the visitors they bring spend money that contributes to the local economy. While the tourism income helps, there is a lot of  what economists call "leakage". Imagine a new type of tourism company - a company founded for the purpose of enhancing the cultural and economic benefit of the host community. Imagine a social enterprise - like Tom's Shoes or Ethos Water...

16 May, 2014 /
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