11 Sep Who is tourism for?

Who is tourism for?

For the longest time, the answer for this question has been it is for the traveler. Tourism has oriented itself to the satisfaction of travelers’ desires with the general idea that the customer is right, and their needs must always take precedence. After all – they are paying for the travel – right?

But one of the clear trends from the pandemic reset is that many destinations are rethinking their response to this question. The emerging answer is that tourism is for the benefit of the destination community.

It is interesting and exciting to consider the tourism system reorganizing its thinking and actions around this new paradigm. Paradoxically – destination communities that welcome visitors on their own terms will likely deliver better travel experiences.

There’s work to be done…