Tourism is a team activity - it requires many different actors, each with their own specialty - to create great tourism experiences. In each tourism destination, there are many players, contributing unique services, acting in concert, but acting independently, on the tourism team. The way tourism teams work in destinations is fascinating for a number of reasons. I'll explore some of the unique elements of these teams in coming posts but today I want to focus on the question - who is in charge of the team ?...

03 March, 2019 /

2017 is the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for development. Sustainable tourism is being touted as an important tool in development. Why tourism? The United Nations gives 5 reasons: Tourism can create inclusive and sustainable economic growth Tourism can increase inclusiveness, employment and contribute to poverty reduction Tourism can contribute to resource efficiency, environmental protection and reducing climate change Tourism can help us appreciate cultural values, diversity and heritage and Tourism can lead to greater mutual understanding, peace and security. But introducing or increasing tourism doesn’t automatically create these...

22 March, 2017 /

There is an excitement about the power of social entrepreneurship. Unleashing the power of entrepreneurial thinking on social problems provides “out of the box” solutions  after years of "standard" responses these challenges. However, some of the most vocal advocates for social entrepreneurship only extoll the virtues of scalable solutions and game-changing approaches. There is more to social enterprise than a few large organizations and I want to take a moment to celebrate social entrepreneurs that are working in their own small corners of the world, making real and positive change...

06 July, 2016 /

The rise in "Local" is making an impact. One of the three big trends shapingmarketing today - So Mo Lo ( Social, Mobile and Local), "local" tends to be an afterthought in conversations that focus on the rise of mobile and the impact of social networking and marketing. But "local" is a big deal to tourism marketing and is changing the way the industry does business. The focus on local has a couple of great benefits for tourism: Local product and services build a "sense of place". "Local" tends...

28 May, 2015 /

The idea that tourism is a system has been around for a while. Morrison and Mill wrote the first edition of The Tourism System in 1985 - and they weren't the first to recognize the concept. Since then there have been advances - Louise Twining Ward - added that tourism was a Complex and Adaptive System and Noel Scott and his colleagues have done great work on understanding the dynamics within these networks. So - if we know its a system - why don't we treat it like one ?...

22 May, 2015 /

When we talk about sustainability's triple bottom line - people, planet, profits - it can sometimes seem vague. But DMOs work on practical sustainability issues everyday. Visitors come to see out environment and experience our culture.  Celebrating, promoting and preserving the culture and heritage of a destination is a task that DMOs can get behind. That is why the Arts Destination Marketing Award -  awarded to DMOs and Local Arts Agencies using arts to support destination marketing - is sustainability at its best. Well done DMAI and Americans for the Arts...

19 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 /
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