Pathways and pitstops – particularities and peculiarities

Mind your Ps and Qs (53)

Do you know the way to San Jose? Such a question hits at the heart of every destination concerned with visitors` knowledge about travel…the ease or difficulties of access…the multitude of concerns regarding mobility and wayfinding…direction as well as intention.

To attract and appeal to visitors who ponder yonder, destinations have always been vulnerable and beholden to the availability, the inefficiencies of existing transportation systems, as well as various public and private sector organizations whose collective decision-making power determines what gets built, is done or remains undone – pathways, roads, route structures and modes of travel whether on land, the seas or in the air – and, thereby, determines the viability of tourism.

As we all know from personal experience, when mobility and movement become imperiled, tourism and its power structure flounder. The implications for communities-as-destinations are serious and not simply for tourism but all forms of trade and distributive-reliant enterprises.

Based on arguments provided in a prior article - proclivity to please – it is evident that destinations need to be more forthright in taking ownership of the entirety of visitors` pre- to post-trip journeys. After all, a destination’s success is contingent on being attentive to resolving the trials and tribulations of the travel aspects of visitor trips or journeys. Why? Travel to and within destinations constitutes a portion of, and cannot easily be separated from, the overall destination-experience.

In this case, we can liken travel to the myth about the goose that laid the golden egg and wonder: Are the industry`s “countrymen” complicit in failing to respond whenever travel’s nuanced foibles morph into serious failings…prevalent these days when travel and tourism are used as diplomatic weapons (as in boycotts) and victimized at chokepoints….actions intensifying the vulnerability of the industry and necessitating course correction.

With the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz (and possibly any maritime one) - halting and rerouting the global movement of cargo and cruise traffic - economic pain and inflationary pressures are being triggered worldwide, increasing the overall cost of all petroleum products, curtailing the production and availability of fuel, rerouting aircraft, revising travel decisions (due to cost, safety and security concerns), thereby disrupting supply chains, altering travel behavior and transport usage.

In an inter-connected world, all communities-as-destinations are being subjected to a litany of cascading impacts brought on by geo-political upheavals, energy security and climate change. As such, building resilience has become a pressing issue as noted in this OECD report, particularly for coastal communities and across transportation infrastructures.

Even in urban areas, and all areas of visitation for that matter, a constant barrage of problems can occur, especially when public and private transportation systems are exposed to road closures, exorbitant maintenance costs, derailments, airline mergers, pilot strikes, and other operational challenges that bring about downstream effects that disrupt or alter movement patterns.

In determining how best to manage the capacities and capabilities of all forms of transport, especially from the point of view of visitors to destinations, all we can hope to do here is to highlight a fraction of the considerations related to all stages and aspects of travel – from pre-travel considerations, travel from, travel to, travel within, travel around, travel back, and post-travel impressions.

Following up on the need for trauma-informed leadership throughout the travel, tourism and transportation worlds, communities and their DMOs need to recognize that destination marketing is no longer confined to attracting visitors (campaigns and channels) but needs to become a reliable, real-time growth engine that integrates insights, content and commerce, solves problems, reduces the friction, and takes responsibility for a wider range of visitor experiences.

In this environment, advantage can only accrue to those who learn faster, personalize-at-scale, and optimize the full marketing funnel that accounts for and incorporates all visitor pre- to post-trip travel and place-based experiences.

Let`s begin with pre-travel. It represents the inception point and often starts to take shape years in advance, based on curiosity and long-standing interests in culture, cuisine, or commerce. As a destination first decision this is the arena in which DMOs and a wide variety of organizations devote considerable attention, effort, time, and investment to inform, promote, incentivize,

As undertakings carried out by many individual enterprises, it is notable why so few destination marketing efforts are coordinated, unless DMOs accept responsibility. With mixed messages, prospective visitors are left to their own devices and interpretations about a destination and must make choices regarding travel logistics often without sufficient guidance.

In days gone by, a lot of these decisions were made by travel agents. That has changed in our online world. Yes, there are specialists, influencers, all-inclusive properties, and tour organizations that will provide advice, assistance, or offer packaged travel, but surely there is need for an orchestration role for destinations and/or individual visitor-receiving organizations.

To an extent, some do act as trip-planning concierges. They appreciate the inconveniences associated with the travel portions of trips; offer recommendations in reference to modal choice, scenic routes, places for pit-stops and refreshments. But more can be done to personalize travel arrangement based on criteria that match visitor`s needs and interests regarding specialized activities. Even to the point of reminding potential visitors about certain necessities and special equipment that will make trips safer and more enjoyable.

After all, it is the travel from and travel to portion of most trips that tend to be the most enraging rather than engaging. Given the stressors, regardless of mode (idle waiting times, delays, biometric checkpoints, amenity and luggage fees, snafus at customs, and any number of inconveniences) avoidance is rarely possible. If flying, for example, the best option is always direct. The extra cost may be far less than layovers and the wasting of time.

The most frustrating aspect of travel is the lack of treat `em right services prior to arrival. While destinations want all service encounters to be pleasant and fruitful once visitors have arrived, they are neglectful of those discomforting encounters that occur in transit. While they represent functional and jurisdictional issues beyond their control, are they worthy excuses?

DMOs and visitor-serving organizations work diligently in the creation and construction of anticipation – the stirring of moods, emotions and imaginations – but it is disconcerting when travelers arrive frazzled and emotionally drained. As travelers, we may be our own worst enemies through insufficient planning, being in a hurry, and having unreasonable expectations, but more can be done to smooth, soothe or soften the adversities associated with travel (e.g. jet lag, circadian rhythms, culture shock and health risks). If only more destinations would prepare visitors with cursory knowledge about social norms, language, food, appropriate clothing, and health care (through pamphlets, podcasts, YouTube channels) they would endear themselves.

Travel within and travel around destinations and regions requires knowledge about unfamiliar pathways and the need for more detailed information beyond the typical brochures found at information booths. The consumption work of travel never ends, especially when ensconced in unfamiliar places. It helps when efforts are made to reveal the novelty that can be found, the rules of the road, the excitement of street life, how to utilize and access transit systems, car rentals, and taxis.

Destinations and visitor-serving organizations want visitors to discover their community’s regional attractions. It is not just a matter of providing detailed advice, which should be readily available, but personalized in accord with interests - the routes to take, how best to see and partake, places to avoid that might be unsafe or unsavory. Certainly, new technologies can be utilized and are available.

Because unlicensed tour guides often prey on unsuspecting visitors, travelers need to be wary of the unavoidable tourist hustle. Indeed, the local industry should do more to ensure visitors aren`t taken advantage of.

Travel back may mark the end of a visit, but it comes with its own hardships. These can be ameliorated through fond memories of a visit, but it helps when there is fond farewell and some sort of parting gift, not the kind offered through duty-free shops, rather thoughtful gestures (follow-up thank-yous) that convey friendship or kinship and signal interest in and recommendations for their return.

***********************

Returns that remind me as to some other particularities and peculiarities along life`s pathways - the ones we take and commit to, the ones we ignore…the celebratory sounds and sensations of our journeys…a reference to the importance of what we seek from the excitement that comes from anticipating arrivals and the fond memories that follow.

So, bear with me as I revive an initial draft of this article in which I reference another journey of sorts, the birth of my son in 1972, and the 1973 release of Elton John`s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

This is the pathway that stirred my son`s imagination, especially as we ventured into the fantasy land of Bennie and the Jets…a wild and wooly point of departure for future journeys, with returns along memory lane to a singable and danceable nostalgia that reminds all of us to celebrate those who pave the pathways to delight and joy.

Similarly for the passage of planes, trains and automobiles. They would not exist were it not for the visions and extremely hard work of others whose creativity, foresight and investments continue to provide access to places where we need to be, want to be…the movers, doers and shakers who facilitate mobility, movement or flows of people to places that we never dreamed would be available or possible to visit.

It may seem strange to engage with pathways through reference to music and movies and yet anyone who has raised a child instinctively knows that they initially learn about the world by acting on sound and sensation, objects and people. They “think and act with their bodies” well before they think with words. Music stimulates “mobility and movement” that, in turn, forms the basis of social activities that help them feel part of a group and brings a dimension of beauty and joy into their lives.

For musicians, such continuity never ceases. Life becomes a highway as they traverse route 66 or any travel or trade route for that matter. Whenever they pack their bags and venture into unknown territories, something magical happens. With new melodies in their heads, they find their voices and reveal the connectivity between travel and musical genius…a story conveyed to me personally by Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin fame, while sitting on a beach on the island of Bequia, and further emulated by diehard fans who, influenced by his vagabond ways, seek their own metaphysical and transcendental journeys.

Maybe the same cannot be said for the road warriors and road runners clogging the highways and byways. Their boredom might feel debilitating, but we all know from personal experience, they are slaves to the rhythm of looney tunes and favored pulsations.

When younger, I knew that I was breaking the speed limit listening to rapper’s delight, while trying to slow down on the long way home (to save myself from speeding tickets). Thank heaven for jazz grovin hip-hop (my son`s influence). Music, always mobility’s favored companion.

To savor the moment, we rely on movement. Movement that seeks and depends upon new, different and indirect pathways for excursions that quell the urge to get lost…a voracious call out heard by every community in their quest to serve visitors and encourage destination development (unless they want to remain single postal-code economies).

A quest that now is leading many a community or a DMO`s marketing and branding department to invest in intelligent community accelerators and broadband…other integrative forms of innovative pathways designed to enhance and speed up connectivity and ease the way to prosperity…technologies of connection that can also tear us apart.

While the same could be said for virtual and augmented realities, such diversionary pitstops are not so straight forward or inevitable. When used as substitutes for travel and tourism, they can never amount to meaningful connectivity, engagement, and understanding that necessitate face-to-face interactions.

On the other hand, effective artificial intelligence (AI) can be a valuable travel companion, a tool useful in solving many issues from the planning of itineraries to managing visitor flows, influencing choice behaviors, enhancing and redirecting movement and mobility.

Consider AI`s use in helping control and curtail crowding especially along well-worn routes and streets…aiding DMOs to become the effective network orchestrators they are supposed to be…working diligently to sustain and justly manage and develop their communities-as-destinations in accord with principled purpose.

We are thoroughly aware as to travel and tourism`s seasonality and cyclicity, but these days the ebb and flow of visitors have taken on greater significance in places like Venice, Barcelona, and numerous others complaining about the disorder that emanates from deluge.

Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to judge what is optimal and orderly. On certain occasions being part of a crowd is the intent, especially at sports stadiums or rock concerts. The intensity of being part of dense groupings of enthusiastic fans represents the optimal experience for all participants.

While elaborating on the psychology of optimal experience, determined through flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the pioneer of the flow concept, recognizes that the nature of the situation will always determine what constitutes the nature of the optimal experience.

At certain times and situations, the overbearing number of people in any given space or place detracts and calls for dispersal or offramp pathways, especially when there is need for a degree of privacy that allows for contemplation…one of the reasons why art galleries, museums and libraries limit patronage and expect behavior becoming of the solemness and quietude expected.

If the potential of tourism is to foster and deliver economic and social development, the purpose of travel and tourism needs articulation and requires clarity. As such, all countries and communities would be remiss if they failed to focus attention on ensuring not just pathways to provide accessibility, but pathways to relieve the pressure, and pathways to spread community shared value, justly and fairly.

To this end, an immense amount of effort will have to be devoted to identifying and navigating the particularities and peculiarities to a wide range of pathways. How? By…

· Improving transportation policy and its symbiotic relationship with tourism that will further the amenable development of visitor activity

· Perfecting aviation policy and its relevance with tourism while energize aviation`s revival

· Improving transit access and reliability in urban and rural areas

· Providing better hosting and logistical support for large tour and event organizers

· Creating meandering and sensorial walking paths as essential infrastructures

· Creating and connecting more regional and national cycling networks

· Encouraging the notion and benefits of wandering

· Perfecting the naturalizing of streetscapes, the streets alive program

· Cleaning-up alleyways, beautifying streetscapes and being pedestrian-friendly

· Improving the safety and security of pedestrians and passengers

· Creating new tourism corridors, reimagining existing ones (Appian Way)

· Encouraging travel off the beaten path, wandering

· Continuing the conversion of rails to trails

· Encouraging collaboration among cycling networks and facilitating bikeshare programs

· Developing more visitor-friendly service and information-centric centers

· Placing more attention on accessible parking areas and fee structures

· Reflecting on the appropriate visitor levies and tolls on major roadways

· Enhancing the dispersion of visitors through well-crafted itineraries and cultural routes

· Being more cognizant of the special needs of the disabled and immobile

· Improving the design and functionality of transportation terminals or staging points

· Creating and utilizing location-based services and navigation tools

· Re-evaluating how all attractions can become vital and interesting “pit-stops” for visitors

· Re-thinking the promotion and development of regenerative policy pathways

· Being concerned about our waste streams and how circularity programs are progressing

· Carefully assessing the nature and characteristics of future demand

· Reviewing the adequacies of waterways, nautical areas, harbors, canals, rivers, lakes and waterfronts

· Being focused on the avoidance of traffic congestion and pollution

· Widening the pathways to the future to enhance the flow of, and ease the access to, knowledge and information for all stakeholders – citizens and visitors alike.

What lies “Beyond” your Yellow Brick Road?

New pathways to opportunities