Please please - perfecting prospects for pleasure

Mind your Ps and Qs (13)

At the time of writing Taylor Swift is in Toronto for her six-concert, ten-day, pleasure-inducing Eras tour.  The city is ecstatic and bracing for an economic boost from Swiftenomics, everyone riding the bandwagon with a myriad of spinoff events designed to capitalize on the concerts.  Will Toronto captivate and please?  What can be learned from this and other events?

In keeping with its Strategic Directions for the Visitor Economy that seeks to be impactful, Destination Toronto is ready, willing and able to showcase its hotels, shops, museums, theatres, parks, and public squares…locales which offer the most diverse outlets for society’s age-old urge to express itself…venues for seeing and being seen…places forging their own style and multicultural flavor…attractions constantly being reinterpreted with boundless wealth of imagination and financial investment…the city doing its utmost to perfect prospects for pleasure.

Like Swifties, we all gravitate to destinations that speak or sing to us in the most magical and musical of ways.  Pleasure-seeking represents the antidote to being lonely in cities where we live and work. Whether we seek social connection through fandom or the camaraderie of others who share common interests, most of us rely on various forms of hedonic consumption in order to lead happier, healthier and more meaningful lives.

The implications for communities in pursuit of the visitor economy are vast.  Some DMOs, for example, are prompting urban planners to be more cognizant as to the ways in which place authenticity and built environments positively affect peoples` quality-of life and well-being, as is being planned for in Bhutan.  We are all aware of the need to improve the aesthetics of urban and rural environments, how they pull visitors from near and far towards them, everyone searching for a measure of pleasure.

In these tumultuous times and a world beset by outrage, however, “Please please” represents not just the desires and expectations for visitor delight, but a plea for everyone in leadership and management positions within their individual organizations to double-down on achieving the goal of positive life-changing experiences for hosts as well as for guests.  One reason why residents of communities need an expressive voice when it comes to tourism development…a major contributor in improving their community`s development.

In this regard, the concept of destination can`t be divorced or separated from the concept of community, whether in relation to development or governance.  Their interwoven and interchangeable nature makes the management of communities-as-destinations and destinations-as-communities obvious and essential, especially since tourism can play a vital role in determining a community`s identity, destiny and fate (themes in Taylor Swift`s songs).

Given these insights and need for alignment, tourism and its development requires a “strategy – a philosophy of becoming (that represents) a chance to create the conditions that enable the change we seek to make in the world”.  A change or transformation that will help shape and steer the journey toward advantageous future outcomes.  A philosophy and journey (based on a clarification of purpose, principles and progress) that encourage and oblige leaders and managers to mind their Ps and Qs, involve others in determining the appropriateness of destination design, and in being forthright in the pursuit of hospitality and sustainability, stage-by-stage, era-by-era.  

To this end, anyone contemplating a career in tourism would do well to appreciate the inordinate amount of planning and preparation required of mega events.  A passion for perfection that requires expertise, integration, and team effort learned by utilizing hindsight, foresight, insight, cross-sight and mindsight, as exemplified, for example, by the staging of the Eras Tour; what the city of Toronto undertook to plan and prepare for the event, not to mention the need to fully understand the special preparations being made by 500,000 Swifties, including their expectations to be awed during, before and following the Eras concert.

As a consequential, community-building extravaganza, the worldwide Eras tour has been noteworthy for generating an outpouring of emotionality. Emotions that aren`t simply internal, private experiences but public or plural experiences circulating between and among people, destinations and event venues that are deeply embedded, along with many forms of tourism, in powerful affective economies. 

Indeed, the emotive impacts of such notable experiences have tendencies to stick to people and places (based on memories and memorabilia).  In the case of Taylor Swift, they also can create networks of crafting and exchange (e.g. Swifty bracelets) that serve to shape and anchor perceptions and relationships.  A circulation of emotions, catharsis and community that create meaning and connect fans to physical environments as well as social and cultural movements.

Now, everyone involved in tourism instinctively knows that the aim or goal is to please.  The Eras Tour provides considerable insight into what all destinations need to consider as they move forward in preparing and implementing tourism`s strategies and furthering its development.

·       First and foremost is recognition that tourism (in all its social, personal, physical, and virtual/technology-driven environments) is firmly ensconced in an affective economy.  Attention to incorporating the prospects for favorable emotionality and sensuality is paramount…negativity must be driven out.

·       Events and attractions are predicated on the desires of visitors, guests, customers, clientele and participants to gather, celebrate, be entertained, engaged and involved in meaningful ways.  Deep knowledge about the pre-determinate socio-demographic and psychological profiles of potential visitors is essential, especially what will please and delight, as well as what might offend or cause heartache.  Imagine what happened when the Eras tour was cancelled in Vienna.

·       Given where people intentionally congregate, it`s important to consider how best to mold (manipulate?) their pre-dispositions, emotions and moods…whether it`s accomplished through communications, messaging, the quality, design and symbolism of the settings, or the overall vibe of the place, hospitality and related services.

·       An essential consideration in attracting and creating events has to be the anticipation of possible adversities, impacts, and unintended consequences.  Such awareness and knowledge serves to discern the design and appropriateness of events, and how best to master the delivery on all requirements, including the avoidance of unforced errors and mitigation of risks - risk management – with due recognition of the need to pursue any opportunities that can arise from risks.

·       Once a community discerns what is fitting or appropriate and desirable, viability should be determined through thorough feasibility studies and the degree to which there is strategic alignment.  In consideration of Destination Toronto`s Strategic Directions for the Visitor Economy, for example, one might expect the following:  Reconciliation with the region`s indigenous communities; celebration of multiculturalism and cultural vibrancy; improvements to all host/guest experiences (ShowLoveTO); better provision of access (StrollTO); enhancement of “Night Life”; and collaboration through a “Locals First” approach to inclusive development.  Success in achieving such alignment would reveal the city`s interest in achieving Destinations International`s concept of “Community Shared Value”, a definite form of “progressive capitalism”.

·       Whether for individuals or groups, every visit to a destination represents an event of sorts.  If we are to consider each-and-every event as multidimensional, complex, and an interlinked societal phenomenon, with the intention to “perfect prospects for pleasure”, the challenge for hosts can`t help but be immense.  Witness the build-up to the Eras tour…the need for, and the dimensionality of, the supportive physical, organizational, logistical, and symbolic “scaffolding”.  As an apt metaphor for (1) mobilizing institutional, social organizational, and economic resources; (2) stabilizing emerging patterns of interactions that reflect a degree of social order; (3) drawing and focusing attention on a desired and uncontested goal, the need for scaffolding is uncontestable.  Obviously, it must be appropriate, suited to the tasks, and structurally sound.

In this regard, imagine the grand challenge and organizational agility required to mount and host international summits, such as the ongoing COP 29.    

Attention has to be riveted on operations, outcomes, and optics.  Any faux pas, snubs, or relationships that are mishandled can have disastrous effects. Like theatrical events, staging, production, and performance have to be meticulously designed. Organizers have to select the most appropriate sites, design the programs, and put into place a system for managing summits as a series of inter-connected events.  Roles and responsibilities need to be clarified; a clear set of objectives defined; and attendees prepped for productive conversations.  As planning progresses, scenario reviews and dry runs have to be performed in order to anticipate potential problems and cross-check all arrangements

The protocols, peculiarity and uniqueness of every event demands coordination by an operational center especially in regard to venue selection, delegate hotels, communications, transportation, medical, security, logistics, media, special events, emergency planning, liaison, plans and programs, conference facilities, hospitality services, and the design that goes into determining menus, décor and decorations, site enhancements, ceremonial elements, spousal programs, media relations, invitations, broadcasting, public affairs, and so on.

Scrutiny by the media, bloggers and those who twitter can be intense, not only in terms of the event and its outcomes, but of the entire hosting community especially in regard to hospitality, security, and the handling of protesters.  Each delegation has to be handled with kid gloves.  Similarly, it’s important to know how to handle idiosyncratic dietary restrictions, seating arrangements, language barriers, privacy needs, and overall expectations.

Summits, like all events, are, in actual fact, a convergence of services and activities.  Each has to be carefully approached and coordinated from design and thematic points of view.  As a specialized activity, service design (as a form of scaffolding) entails the planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and all the material components to ensure goals and desired outcomes are achieved and the interactions between hosts and guests beyond reproach.

Needless to say, the uniqueness of all events requires a high degree of organizational agility, fastidiousness and dogged persistence.  The effort pays off when everyone`s goals and desired outcomes are met, if not exceeded; when reputations for excellence expand or remain intact; and when host communities do their best to  optimize and transform peoples` capacities for awe.