The summer of 2017 a new term - Overtourism - burst into discussions about tourism. While the issues of overtourism have been around for some time, the folks at Skift named it and featured it in their 2017 megatrends. People in some of the most popular destinations, frustrated with the negative impacts of tourism, reached their tipping point, and a tourist backlash began. There is no question that overtourism is a problem. But overtourism is a symptom of a bigger challenge - sustainable destination management -...

08 September, 2019 /

We live at a time of incredible travel freedoms. If you have the time and money, you can go almost anywhere. ( We'll talk in another post about issues around time, money and travel another time). With these freedoms, comes responsibility. As a traveler, you are visiting someone else's community. Your journey of discovery or relaxation takes place in a destination community where people live their lives. Your freedom to visit is based on their hospitality - don't take it for granted. With the freedom to visit...

17 August, 2019 /

It has become common for calls for sustainability in tourism. But what does that mean ? The definitions of sustainable tourism don't help answer this question much. Most definitions these days include the Triple-Bottom-Line (People, Planet, Profits), TBL, and the importance of taking a long term view - considering both today and tomorrow. These definitions are conceptually appealing but frustratingly vague. In some ways, sustainable tourism requires three-dimensional thinking. On one dimension, there are the activities required for each component of the TBL. For example, the simplest...

07 June, 2019 /

Overtourism is a significant problem for many of the world’s most popular destinations. In the summer of 2017, the issue of overtourism came to a boil with many media outlets questioning – what can be done about overtourism? The problem was (and is) immediate and seemed to have come upon us suddenly - almost by surprise. Of course, overtourism wasn't a surprise. Like many feedback loops in systems, the problem of overtourism had been building in the tourism system for a long time before it was noticed by the...

04 June, 2018 /

The Orinoquia region of Colombia is experiencing an incredible renaissance. After years of civil war, peace has come to their region and tourism is growing. Getting to know this region has been a great pleasure. One of my favorite stops on the road from Yopal to Villavicencio is Asadero Las Vegas. This place has great grilled meats popular in Los Llanos but it is the great customer service and enthusiasm of the staff that impressed me the most. Our servers were friendly and welcoming and happy to share a...

25 February, 2018 /

From a marketing perspective, the answer to “where do I start?” is always with your target market. For many small tourism businesses that can be a hard thing to do – after all – your product is right there in front of you – and it is beautiful. Over summer I had the great pleasure of visiting tourism product in the area of San Juan de Arama in the Meta region of Colombia. As the ink dries on the peace treaty that ends the war in Colombia, the people...

01 October, 2016 /

So what do the destinations of the future look like ? It's a great question. Too often it seems that as destinations become more popular - they become less appealing. We love our destinations to death. That is why it is great that DMO managers are stepping up and engaging in the planning, developing and management of their destinations. No-longer are DMOs just promoting their destinations - they are actively involved in "product development" and "destination experience". DestinationNext, DMAI's strategic planning initiative, highlights DMOs important role in creating the destination communities of the...

20 May, 2015 /

"Sustainability" has been described as one of the most "jargony-ist" words of recent times. Because I talk about sustainability a lot, I get this feedback from everyone - students, hoteliers, tour operators and DMOs.  I agree ! The word "sustainability"  is used way too frequently and too carelessly - and it's too bad - because lost in the "I'm so over this word - sustainability" attitude is the important fact that DMOs are important agents of sustainability. Imagine working to make the destination the best place it could be -...

15 May, 2015 /

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 /
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