“GT” Insight Bites: On tourism technology, progress, and local benefit-sharing

Write no more than 300 words on a travel & tour­ism top­ic that is import­ant to you.

This is an open invit­a­tion to travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers to con­trib­ute a “GT” Insight Bite. 

Simply con­tact “GT”.

Unlike oth­er “Good Tour­ism” Insight Bites that have dead­lines and are based on spe­cif­ic ques­tions or hypo­thet­ic­al scen­ari­os, this invit­a­tion is ongo­ing and wide open in scope. 

I’ll pub­lish as and when I have a few or a couple; some­times even indi­vidu­ally. So don’t be shy in pitch­ing your “GT” Insight Bite if it is time-sens­it­ive. If you have more to say, con­sider a full “GT” Insight (600 – 1,200 words).

“GT” does­n’t judge. “GT” publishes.

Thanks to every­one who par­ti­cip­ated. Their responses appear in the order received. 

Click/touch a name to go to their “GT” Insight Bite:

• Saverio Francesco Ber­to­lu­cci — Tem­per your expect­a­tions of technology
• K Michael Hay­wood — On pro­gress, per­form­ance, and purpose
• Edwin Magio — New bene­fit-shar­ing mod­el needed at Dagurugurueti Manyatta

What AI ‘thinks’ (The prompt: “Write 300 words on the most import­ant issue in travel & tour­ism right now”):

• Bard — The rising cost of travel
• Chat­G­PT — (Stuck in Septem­ber 2021)

More import­antly:

• What do you think?

Pre­vi­ous “GT” Insight Bites:

• Hey, travel & tour­ism, are you ‘neo­co­lo­ni­al­ist’?
• Who’s the new boss? Asia Pacific tour­ism industry asso­ci­ation seeks leader
• ‘The hos­pit­al­ity industry offers a great career.’ Really?
• Cruise ships: Bless­ing or blight?
• Tour­ist vs trav­el­ler: What’s the difference?
• The heads of fin­ance, oper­a­tions, and PR walk into their boss’s office … 
• Yes, Tour­ism Minister
• What are tourism’s biggest chal­lenges & threats over the next five years?
• ‘Tour­ism is built on the back­bone of white suprem­acy’. What do you think?
• Really, what’s the dif­fer­ence? ‘Sus­tain­able tour­ism’ vs ‘regen­er­at­ive tourism’
• Want a career in tour­ism? Import­ant things you should know
• Diverse per­spect­ives on travel & tour­ism and a fairer world
• Diverse per­spect­ives on eco­nom­ic degrowth and tourism
• Diverse per­spect­ives on vis­it­or dispersion

Temper your expectations of technology

Saverio Francesco Bertolucci, Administrative Assistant, Alcambarcelona, Spain

Tour­ism is rap­idly return­ing to pre-COV­ID levels and com­pan­ies are now more than ever will­ing to impose them­selves in the market. 

In order to appeal, many firms have decided to rely on the inter­net and oth­er tech­no­lo­gies to attract and serve customers. 

The pan­dem­ic surely boos­ted the intro­duc­tion of tech­no­logy in every aspect of the cus­tom­er journey.

While res­taur­ants are throw­ing away clas­sic paper menus in favour of QR codes, some hos­pit­al­ity com­pan­ies are exploit­ing elec­tron­ic key sys­tems: meth­ods by which cus­tom­ers open the door of their lodgings by swip­ing right on their touchscreens. 

Oth­er brands are heav­ily inves­ted in mar­ket­ing cam­paigns and spe­cial soft­ware to catch and wel­come the right cus­tom­er target.

In this new envir­on­ment, there may be a tend­ency to fan­tas­ise about the bene­fits of tech­no­logy. SMEs, espe­cially, which do not have the same man­age­ment logist­ics and resources to course-cor­rect as big cor­por­a­tions, risk rely­ing too much on tech­no­logy, cre­at­ing expect­a­tions well above real­ity and for­get­ting about the experience. 

Com­fort has to pre­vail over tech­no­logy since tan­gible goods and premi­um ser­vices on site drive demand, pos­it­ive reviews, and profits. 

If tech­no­logy is a hand, the qual­ity of the exper­i­ence is the mind. Stay mindful.

Tour­ists will for­get how they got to know the brand if their stay was a com­plete failure. 

It’s easy to see how tech­no­logy can be an asset. Don’t for­get that it can be a liability. 

My sug­ges­tion for investors, CEOs, and exec­ut­ives is to think tech but to nev­er under­es­tim­ate com­fort. Cus­tom­er back­lashes are a con­crete risk.

I will talk about these top­ics as guest speak­er at the Tour­ism Innov­a­tion Sum­mit 2023.

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Progress: Correcting the disconnects between performance and purpose

K Michael Haywood, Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph, Canada

In this era of poly-crises, mar­ket volat­il­ity, and the stress of uncer­tain times, there is a crav­ing for smart guidance. 

The pres­sure to suc­ceed among all enter­prises, and with­in tour­ism clusters, is cre­at­ing high levels of anxiety.

With com­pet­it­ive­ness the oper­at­ive word, is it any won­der that man­agers tend to buckle under the pres­sures to sat­is­fy weekly, monthly, and quarterly met­rics; those sales and profit goals? 

Time-bound fIn­an­cial KPIs reprise a relent­less rhythm that leaves little time to focus on issues asso­ci­ated with sus­tain­ab­il­ity, innov­a­tion, or the cre­ation of mean­ing­ful com­munity shared value that Des­tin­a­tions Inter­na­tion­al is promoting.

Fur­ther­more, it cer­tainly seems coun­ter­pro­duct­ive when so many crit­ics — lack­ing appre­ci­ation for the risks asso­ci­ated with and dif­fi­culties in suc­ceed­ing in busi­ness — seem con­tent to harp on tourism’s regress rather than help those who can make a dif­fer­ence in advan­cing tourism’s, and their organisation’s, longev­ity and pro­gress.  

Devot­ing more atten­tion to help­ing may be simple to say, but darned hard to do. 

Short-term per­form­ance goals can­not be aban­doned, but they can be amended so long as organ­isa­tions are encour­aged to foster future-for­ward mind­sets.    

How? 

As a begin­ning point, ima­gine com­munit­ies-as-des­tin­a­tions devel­op­ing a pro­cess for col­lect­ively defin­ing tourism’s pur­pose in ways that would cre­ate mean­ing­ful value for all stake­hold­ers — busi­nesses, cit­izens, and vis­it­ors — and how they could embody that pur­pose in their words and actions and anchor it in strategy. 

A pur­pose that would:

• Pro­mote stor­ied and trans­form­at­ive cul­ture change.
• Mat­ter to every­one and be future-oriented. 
• Refine out-dated policies and re-define long-term performance.
• Encour­age organ­isa­tion­al, com­munity- and team-based cooperation.
• Con­nect innov­a­tion and pro­jects to itself and to long-term per­form­ance goals.
• Guide des­tin­a­tions into prin­cipled action that would pro­mote progress.

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New benefit-sharing model needed at Dagurugurueti Manyatta, Kenya

Edwin Magio, Community Enterprise Development Manager, Ecotourism Kenya

Dagurugurueti Man­yatta, situ­ated near Lamek Con­servancy in Narok County, south­west­ern Kenya, offers an immers­ive exper­i­ence of vibrant Maa­sai culture. 

This par­tic­u­lar man­yatta (an enclos­ure con­sist­ing of sev­er­al huts or houses) fea­tures a cent­ral open space where anim­als gath­er at dusk, and a stick-and-mos­quito-net crafts market. 

As you enter, you’ll be greeted by melod­ic songs and dances of young Maa­sai war­ri­ors. Eld­ers share ancient wis­dom through stor­ies illu­min­ated by firesticks.

With the help of an Eng­lish-speak­ing guide, you will under­stand vari­ous aspects of Maa­sai life, includ­ing their food, gender roles, and unique house-build­ing techniques. 

Your jour­ney ends at the mar­ket with col­or­ful shukas (fab­rics), intric­ate bead­work, and finely carved decorations. 

Dagurugurueti Man­yatta, like oth­er man­yat­tas, derives its tour­ism income from entrance fees and souven­ir sales. 

How­ever, unlike oth­er man­yat­tas, Dagurugurueti has a dis­tinct rev­en­ue-shar­ing approach. Instead of the usu­al tick­et-based sys­tem, driver guides who bring tour­ists to Dagurugurueti get paid a fee or commission.

Tour­ist rev­en­ue from Dagurugurueti Man­yatta was expec­ted to be a vital source of income for com­munity mem­bers. How­ever, the real­ity has fallen short of expectations. 

I con­duc­ted inter­views with loc­al lead­ers and oth­er com­munity mem­bers who revealed that net rev­en­ues derived from entrance fees have been dis­ap­point­ingly low. 

A sig­ni­fic­ant por­tion is cap­tured by the driver guides through their upfront com­mis­sions, rais­ing con­cerns about unequal distribution.

While souven­ir sales sup­ple­ment loc­al income, this isn’t always reli­able due to vary­ing tour­ist pref­er­ences and will­ing­ness to spend.

Dagurugurueti Man­yat­ta’s exper­i­ence high­lights the need for great­er col­lab­or­a­tion and con­sulta­tion among stake­hold­ers to estab­lish a fair and sus­tain­able mod­el that bene­fits all parties.

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The rising cost of travel

Bard [Experiment]

The most import­ant issue in travel & tour­ism right now is the rising cost of travel. 

This is due to a num­ber of factors, includ­ing infla­tion, sup­ply chain dis­rup­tions, and the war in Ukraine. 

The rising cost of travel is mak­ing it more dif­fi­cult for people to afford to travel, and it is also lead­ing to a decrease in tour­ism spend­ing. This is hav­ing a neg­at­ive impact on the travel & tour­ism industry, which is a major eco­nom­ic driver in many countries.

There are a num­ber of things that can be done to address the rising cost of travel. 

Gov­ern­ments can help to reduce infla­tion by tak­ing meas­ures to con­trol the money sup­ply. They can also invest in infra­struc­ture to make it easi­er and cheap­er to get around. 

The industry can also work to reduce its own costs, and it can devel­op more sus­tain­able and afford­able travel options.

The rising cost of travel is a major chal­lenge for the travel & tour­ism industry, but it is not insur­mount­able. By work­ing togeth­er, gov­ern­ments, busi­nesses, and indi­vidu­als can find ways to make travel more afford­able and access­ible for everyone.

Here are some addi­tion­al points:

• The rising cost of travel is affect­ing all types of travel, includ­ing domest­ic and inter­na­tion­al travel, leis­ure and busi­ness travel.
• The rising cost of travel is hav­ing a dis­pro­por­tion­ate impact on low-income trav­el­ers and people liv­ing in devel­op­ing countries.
• The travel & tour­ism industry is work­ing to address the rising cost of travel, but it is a com­plex issue with no easy solutions.

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(Stuck in September 2021)

ChatGPT August 3 (free / preview) Version

The most press­ing issue centres around the ongo­ing rami­fic­a­tions of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, even bey­ond my last know­ledge update in Septem­ber 2021. 

Des­pite ini­tial recov­ery efforts, the industry remains ensnared in a web of uncer­tainty due to ever-chan­ging vari­ants and vac­cin­a­tion rates. Travel restric­tions, quar­ant­ine pro­to­cols, and entry require­ments con­tin­ue to fluc­tu­ate, deter­ring poten­tial trav­el­ers and hinder­ing busi­ness revival.

This crisis has pro­pelled digit­al innov­a­tion to the fore­front, with con­tact­less ser­vices, online book­ings, and health-related apps becom­ing essen­tial tools. How­ever, the pan­dem­ic has also high­lighted the digit­al divide, under­scor­ing the need for equit­able access to tech­no­logy and information.

Sus­tain­ab­il­ity has not lost its sig­ni­fic­ance. Trav­el­lers now pri­or­it­ise eco-con­scious and socially respons­ible choices. Des­tin­a­tions are tak­ing this oppor­tun­ity to rebuild with a green­er approach, focus­ing on con­ser­va­tion and com­munity engage­ment to ensure a more resi­li­ent future.

A not­able trend is the fusion of work and leis­ure. Remote work and the rise of “work­c­a­tions” have redefined travel pat­terns. Con­sequently, travel busi­nesses are com­pelled to offer more flex­ible pack­ages cater­ing to longer stays and work-related amenities.

Cru­cially, a col­lab­or­at­ive glob­al approach is vital. Gov­ern­ments, busi­nesses, and inter­na­tion­al organ­isa­tions must har­mon­ise health and safety pro­to­cols. Con­cepts like vac­cine pass­ports and stand­ard­ised test­ing hold prom­ise, although they raise con­cerns about imple­ment­a­tion logist­ics and data privacy.

In essence, the travel & tour­ism industry’s recov­ery jour­ney is com­plex and ongo­ing. The les­sons learned from the pan­dem­ic, coupled with innov­at­ive adapt­a­tion and an unwaver­ing com­mit­ment to sus­tain­ab­il­ity and safety, will shape the path forward.

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What do you think? 

In a com­ment below share your own thoughts about what’s import­ant in travel & tour­ism. (After sign­ing in you will need to refresh the page to see the com­ments section.) 

Or write a “GT” Insight. The “Good Tour­ism” Blog wel­comes diversity of opin­ion and per­spect­ive about travel & tour­ism, because travel & tour­ism is everyone’s business.

“GT” is where free thought travels.

Fea­tured image (top of post): Maa­sai war­ri­ors by Dav­id Mark (CC0) via Pixabay.