K Michael Haywood

Prof K Michael Haywood

Prof K Michael Haywood

K Michael Hay­wood is Pro­fess­or Emer­it­us, School of Hos­pit­al­ity, Food and Tour­ism at the Uni­ver­sity of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“As a former pro­fess­or and con­sult­ant to the hos­pit­al­ity and tour­ism indus­tries, I now host the Des­tin­a­tions-in-Action blog on substack from my Tour­ism Studio.”

Michael has also writ­ten for The “GT” Travel Blog.

Also find him on Linked­In.

Revitalise: Empowering inspired hospitality

June 16, 2022

Revitalise: Empowering inspired hospitality. Refreshing drink by Photo Mix via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/drink-glass-lime-mint-cold-fresh-1532300/

Hos­pit­al­ity needs to be revered and revital­ised if travel & tour­ism is to become a con­struct­ive and trans­form­at­ive force for good, accord­ing to K Michael Hay­wood.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Hos­pit­al­ity demon­strates trans­form­at­ive power when people embrace the oth­er and con­trib­ute to the over­all well-being of com­munit­ies, citizens, […]

Read More Revitalise: Empowering inspired hospitality

To revitalise destinations, awaken the senses

May 3, 2022

Awaken the senses. Image by geralt (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/light-circles-points-abstract-face-2935944/

In a glob­al­ised world in which if sub­urb­an shop­ping centres on oppos­ite sides of the plan­et were to switch places overnight there would be very few dif­fer­ences for loc­als to get used to, what does it take to rebuild unique­ness in des­tin­a­tions?  Michael Hay­wood appeals to the senses. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too […]

Read More To revitalise destinations, awaken the senses

Towards ‘magnificence’: The aspirational trajectory of value-creating journeys

March 8, 2022

Towards ‘magnificence’: The aspirational trajectory of value-creating journeys. Image by Jill Wellington (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-girl-freedom-happy-sun-591576/

‘Mag­ni­fi­cent’, the adject­ive, should prop­erly be applied to human actions and vir­tues rather than tan­gible things, derived as it is from the Lat­in ‘mag­num facere’, which means to do some­thing great.  Why is ‘Mag­ni­fi­cence’ K Michael Hay­wood’s “North Star”? And how does he think tour­ism should nav­ig­ate towards it? Cre­at­ing ‘Com­munity Shared Value’ demands that DMOs […]

Read More Towards ‘magnificence’: The aspirational trajectory of value-creating journeys

Tourism’s common challenge: How do we create ‘community shared value’?

February 1, 2022

A common challenge. Image by sasint (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/sunset-men-silhouettes-helping-1807524/

Are there needs, wants, and desires com­mon to all (or most) indi­vidu­als with­in your com­munity? How might travel & tour­ism serve them? K Michael Hay­wood explores the chal­lenge all des­tin­a­tions face if they wish to cre­ate ‘com­munity shared value’. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Des­tin­a­tions Inter­na­tion­al, the pro­fes­sion­al asso­ci­ation for […]

Read More Tourism’s common challenge: How do we create ‘community shared value’?

Winning from within: How can travel & tourism stem the brain drain?

December 7, 2021

Winning from within: How can travel & tourism stem the brain drain? Image by geralt (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/understanding-spark-lightning-hand-3914811/

Travel & tour­ism is every­one’s busi­ness. It’s all about people. How do we keep people allied and inspired in organ­isa­tions, des­tin­a­tions, and host com­munit­ies?  K Michael Hay­wood tackles this prob­lem in his third “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] “Aston­ish, Smarter Tour­ism by Design” (my new e‑book yet to be pub­lished) opens […]

Read More Winning from within: How can travel & tourism stem the brain drain?

Smart clusters: How tourism destinations can organise for a better future

November 9, 2021

Our Milky Way is a cluster of stars that includes ours. Image by Greg Rakozy (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/oMpAz-DN-9I

How can travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers work and play bet­ter togeth­er with­in des­tin­a­tions to ensure optim­al out­comes?  K Michael Hay­wood sug­gests clus­ter­ing. It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] There is strong evid­ence link­ing pos­it­ive busi­ness per­form­ance and out­comes with soci­et­al out­comes and life-affirm­­ing val­ues. Nev­er­the­less, many tour­ism enter­prises remain […]

Read More Smart clusters: How tourism destinations can organise for a better future