ADMIRED, DESIRED AND RESPECTED BY THE INVITED GUEST: A NEW LEXICON FOR TOURISM
As a number of countries around the world move to the next level of dealing with COVID19 and there is a relaxation of the lock down rules and regulations destinations, in collaboration with their National Tourist Boards and with their communities and businesses, are shifting their attention from crisis management to the short-term actions needed ensure the start of their recovery - turning adversity into action with the realisation that there will not be a return to the old normal.
Clearly every country will be emerging from the lock down at different times and even within a country there will be places that are able to move towards recovery sooner than others for a whole range of reasons but is it possible to agree a uniform minimum ‘set of rules’ that are undisputed, uncontested and rigorously applied?
That will be the hope of the UN World Tourism Organisation and the World Health Organisation. These rules should be like the codicils and rules that are defined by governing bodies of sport , such as FIFA (the world governing body for soccer), under which every team in every country of the world and at every level (from youth teasm palying on public parks to the global elite clubs in their iconic stadia) strictly adheres to but which allows every team to play their own way, with their own distinctive style and their specific kit.
So now, just as everyone involved in tourism is seeking appropriate practical operational and business advice, there needs to be a consistent and clear steer from health, sanitation and safety experts. As we trawl the world for examples of the crawl towards the future we see many common solutions emerging and here does appear to be a basic set of rules that must be obeyed. These include, for example:
Social and physical distancing in all public building s and on transportation with, for example, restaurants limiting overall capacity, no more than 4 guests to a table (five if all from one family), tables two meters apart, no open buffets, all table service
Visitor attraction applying the lessons of capacity management and flows of customers as has worked well in supermarkets for example: one way flows, limited dwell times in the flow, lower capacity, book in advance
Attention to employee and guest personal safety
Deep cleaning of all premises and all surfaces
Wearing masks in side shops, ice cream parlours, takeaways
Contact-less payments wherever possible
Sporting and cultural events and festivals for significant numbers (more than 300) will not be permitted until much later in the process of recovery
Re-purposing services, facilities and jobs…. for example can outgoing tour agencies be asked to apply their expertise to develop domestic packages?
It is equally clear, however, that every destination must have the ability to give their own interpretation as to the shape and to the meaning of the way they re-enter the market to welcome visitors in the future.
The destination is the key to the future. The destination is a managerial unit and now, more than ever before in the history of tourism, there has to be an integrated, collaborative and collective view taken as to what type, nature and scale of tourism is both sustainable, resilient and acceptable within a community. This will involve every voice within a community contributing to the debate about the destination’s carrying capacity at different times of the year. It is no longer about the tourism and visitor economy versus everything else.
it will be based on a COMMON VISION, COMMON SENSE, COMMON VALUES, COMMON INTERESTS, COMMON HONESTY, COMMON RESPONSIBILITY, COMMON RESPECT AND COMMON TRUST.
COMMON RESPECT AND TRUST are a two-way concepts that are shared not just within the destination amongst all the stakeholders but also with the visitors intending to visit the destination.
Just as the visitor will expect the destination to respect and trust them and their demands so too should the destination expect the visitor to respect and trust the interests of the host community.
In these three SIMPLE words we now have the beginnings of a new concepts and with it a new language - a fresh lexicon and glossary of terms - for the tourism industry…… some of we may have seen before but have never given them the RESPECT AND TRUST they deserved.
Here is a selection of the fresh perspectives to help design the new future for tourism:
THE INVITED GUEST - We are moving away from traditional marketing to a situation where destinations will INVITE guests to be part of their community based on analysis of safe markets, tested markets, testing and tracing technologies and other metrics to find the best mix
THE TOURIST CORRIDOR - The development of agreed routes or specific geographies for tourists to travel that are based on agreed border crossings and controls, strategically managed travel networks and roadside service stations becoming health testing centres and potential field hospitals
THE ADMIRED AND DESIRED DESTINATION - These and other ways that a destination commands respect and reputation to be places that people believe in
THE DESTINATION CARRYING CAPACITY - The need for a full destination asset audit and a collective decision within the destination as to its carrying capacity viewed from the perspective of evidence, data, discussions and intuition measured from the perspective of these different dimensions of capacity: environmental, physical, economic, touristic, health, psychological, perceptual, cultural, linguistic, value v price and managerial competency.
COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY TOURISM - putting all of the above together.
In 1934, T S Eliot wrote in ‘The Rock’:
“Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
Time to re-set the buttons for a new normal.
