Published Sunday to be ready Monday, “Good news in tourism” is the perfect pick-me-up for the start of a new work week in travel & tourism. And go!
The World Economic Forum (WEF) describes itself as “a platform for the world’s 1,000 leading companies”. Mainstream media and politicians hang on to WEF’s every utterance, presumably because the group represents a massive chunk of global media spend and economic power.
Anyway, WEF has just told Argentina how it should proceed with travel & tourism in a new report entitled “Argentina’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness: The Case for Promoting and Preserving Cultural, Natural and Heritage Assets in Tourism” [PDF hosted offsite].
The good news is that amid all the usual feel-good buzz phrases and after extolling the virtues of information & communications technology — including its potential to deliver overnight success (which can lead to bad outcomes for destinations) — the report acknowledges that residents should benefit from and feel invested in tourism growth.
“GT” would have liked to have seen stronger advocacy for host communities’ participation in destination planning all over the country, not just the cities. For it is locals who have most to lose should tourism get out of hand at their place. And it is locals who have the greatest vested interest in the sustainability of their place. It is, after all, their place.
Contrast that consultants’ white paper with a simple report by a local journalist who attended a meeting of the North Coast Destination Management Studio in Seaside, Oregon, USA. It is evident that state tourism authorities and local tourism experts place more importance on local community involvement than does WEF.
Travel Oregon VP Kristin Dahl described “a shift from destination marketing to destination management […] One of the critical changes is listening to the local bodies, listening to resident perspectives, listening to local businesses and jurisdictions and government agencies doing the work on the ground”.
Seaside-resident tourism expert Ken Heman said: “When this process began over a year ago, we invited any member of the Seaside community who wanted to take part to attend. It was open and announced often. I would love to see more residents of Seaside take a more active role.”
In terms of their people-first approach to conceptualising, planning, and managing travel & tourism, “GT” would sooner listen to Ms Dahl and Mr Heman than the “platform for the world’s 1,000 leading companies”.
But what would “GT” know?
For more "Good news in tourism" this week, please visit https://goodtourismblog.com/2020/03/good-news-in-tourism-march-8-14-2020/