As an educator committed to building a better world, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can equip the new generation to tackle the challenges they will face ( or should I say - the challenges we leave them...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...