Precarious plenitude

Mind your Ps and Qs (39)

Having considered the potency of proliferation from differing points of view, one cannot help but wonder what plenitude has in store for tourism. As one of the world’s largest industries, its expansiveness, abundance and reach is prolific – in 2025 tourism’s growth even outpaced growth in the global economy. With people’s freedom to travel a pervasive right and its possibilities continuing to be enabled, virtually all communities and regions acknowledge the wide range of opportunities that exist through their role as destinations. But contained within the framework of tourism’s abundance and amplitude, we need to ask: What else needs to be considered, included, and deserves acknowledgment?

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

Plenitude. It may not be a familiar word, but it suggests more than enough of something and represents the condition of being full or complete. I do not necessarily want to conflate it with diatribes on overtourism or mass tourism but there are situations in which such a link is justified. These days I feel more inclined to review it within what might be called a political ideology, supply-side progressivism, which, not unexpectedly, has resulted in considerable debate that I have no intent of engaging in.

It’s just that I believe that industry leaders and communities-as-destinations need to recognize plenitude and abundance as multi-dimensional concepts that could be used to augment and elevate the platform for advocacy and action as preliminarily outlined in the DestinationNEXT Futures Study 2025.

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

For commercial reasons, all DMOs, ministries or departments of tourism are in fast pursuit of economically viable growth and market share. The quest for competitive advantage dominates, which to my mind reveals a rather hectic anxiety, a reverse kind of FOMO (fear of missing out) from economic windfalls that, if won, serve to attract and spur further financial investments and economic growth.

Granted, but if communities-as-destinations are to endorse and extol the virtues of community shared value (revealed in the DestinationNEXT document) it seems to me that there are concerns, issues, actions, activities and opportunities that are being ignored or dismissed.

While I have commented on the need to further the development and determination of community shared value, it seems fitting to do so through measurement and within balanced scorecards for tourism…scorecards that, of course, would continue to measure typical transactions, but go far beyond by identifying and measuring transformative activities (e.g. creative Earthshot solutions for a beleaguered planet) and those that might be considered transcendental. When Tourism Cares, truly cares, we need to know if, and how well, a range of benefits and solutions are being produced for citizens, communities, countries and the planet at large.

The rationale for widening and deepening the measurement of outputs of and outcomes from tourism is premised on the fact that the industry seems content to prioritize economic growth. As Adam Smith once noted, though, growth should never be the goal, it is just a means of improving social welfare, suggesting that tourism needs a progressive trajectory.

Tourism`s growth has been heralded for multiple reasons, but what`s currently being measured (arrivals, expenditures, investments, jobs) can be misleading and disingenuous if…

· growth fails to align with tourism`s desired, but rarely explicit, purpose within communities or countries,

· growth is inadequately disaggregated to determine whether growth (economic, social, cultural and personal) contributes, or not, to the creation of community shared prosperity and value,

· growth does little to enhance a community`s reputation or ability to attract investment,

· growth does not include and acknowledge the dignity of work and improvements to the quality-of-life for all.

Concerns which raise the question: How should we measure success when, these days, it is determined almost solely through economic growth?

I am not sure I can or want to answer that question, but I am aware that tourism`s macrolevel statistics only represent an averaging of incomplete data (guesstimates). Moreover, I wonder whether attempts to determine costs, benefits and impacts from tourism (at community or destination levels) can be precise given the interconnectivity with other economic, social, cultural and political activities.

The knowledge, learning and data gaps are extensive. While an attempt has been made to link place (destination) brand ambitions to events, I wonder who determines these ambitions, how holistic and ambitious are they, and whether they can be achieved through purely transactional activities?

Until we descend from the abstract heights or pinnacles (from where tourism`s magnificence is touted) and down into the trenches (in the rooms where it happens – listen and learn about creative exuberance in abundance) the stark views and interpretations of reality and opportunity will continue to remain obtuse.

The need for greater transparency and full disclosure couldn`t be more important. Abundance and plenitude emanate not from plans but from the spirit within, the creative and entrepreneurial spirit (as in music and the arts) that serves to energize any place we call a destination…a point that I will elaborate upon as I draw this article to a conclusion of sorts.

Unfortunately, the spirit and intent of people to foster change and improvement is not how plenitude and abundance are commonly conveyed or explained. Why? Governments and communities-as-destinations are obsessed with planning for tourism, even though predictability and planning are being usurped amid uncertainty, instability, changing weather patterns, business cycles, other factors affecting behaviors, decision making and visitor flows.

Economic growth, plenitude and abundance have always been at the mercy of extreme events and pandemics that appear unannounced. COVID`s assault on travel and tourism was dramatic and intense. Everyone was caught flatfooted. Similarly for tourism`s eventual resurgence and the power of `revenge travel`. Now the world is faced with political attacks on rules-based trade that is disrupting supply chains and cost structures, especially an intensification of social inequities.

Dampeners on growth, including the magnitude of the imbalance between those who have and those who cannot benefit from abundance, are a fact of life revealed through a string of odd consequences.

Consider the U.S. government`s economic warfare on the world, a nationalist fervor which has fomented an `elbows up` response from Canadians (and possibly other countries), including a boycott of travel to the U.S. The consequence: Canadians have opted to travel locally and domestically with international visitors recognizing Canada as a more welcoming and receptive destination The result, a boom year for tourism with the opposite occurring in the U.S.

Politics, these days, is playing a truly weird and deterministic role in the plenitude and abundance of what and for whom. While all DMOs and tourism marketers have characteristically utilized all sorts of tactics to differentiate themselves and appeal to visitors of all stripes, now we are witnessing how some governments are actively discriminating and dissuading some from coming,

It may seem weird but the politics of plenitude, currently in play, is making some governments appear extremely insincere and disingenuous, callous and uncaring, paranoid and schizophrenic. Vacillating between allowing or barring certain ethnicities from entry; being circumspect about cultural differences as evidenced through a war on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), heterogeneous gender types, lifestyles and social life, is making life miserable and worrisome.

It is amazing, the foundational attributes that place brands typically have employed to differentiate themselves, stir imagination, add to our curiosity about others, otherness and cultures, and promote a composite and fascinating picture for why we travel, are under scrutiny.

More troubling are the optics. Imagine the contrast: Donald and his minions frolicking at a roaring 20`s gala vs Oliver and his millions begging for and denied more (the demise of the food stamp program, the cancellation of USAID) etc. etc. I wonder, are some communities and countries losing their heart and soul, their cultural power? Could the collateral damage, now ensuing, represent the initial salvo of a reoccurrence of 1929?

And what about the collateral damage being enacted at corporate levels? Here I reference only a couple of shortcomings: First, insufficient attention given to working in unison with communities to strengthen the wellbeing of communities through the creation of community shared value.

Second, the lack of managerial and leadership skills to coach, lead and build trust (which needs to be measured). When neglectful of psychological safety and the emotional strain on the labor force, many working for minimum or sub-par wages, employees (supposedly hired for their expertise and attitude) become disenchanted and are bound to disembark or show their indifference to the very people they serve. This need not be, if only greater attention was paid to the power of feelings at work.

Abundance of goodwill and generosity is a precious commodity but may be in abeyance in many communities-as-destinations. Indeed, as a general concept, it may not be available at all but to a privileged few. Many of whom horde and control abundance and become adamant in their demands to possess more, and more…a plethora of greed and contempt on display.

Concerning as well is how the abundance of one entity can sabotage the existence and abundance of another entity. Notable to all of us is how the excess discharge of carbon from the burning of fossil fuels is destroying abundance in nature. We marvel at the plenitude of nature but cringe at how it is being depleted (endangering our future level of well-being) and under threat due in large part to the tragedy of the commons (as demonstrated in Bali).

Certainly, calls for limits to growth have resulted in numerous COP conferences and a wide range of ameliorating stewardship measures (conservation, pollution reduction, ecosystem restoration, consumption and waste reduction, energy conservation, resource protection, regenerative farming, and the economics of biodiversity) but it is irksome when progress is slow…when climate change deniers and environmental regulation rollbacks perpetuate the problem…when biodiversity finance barely exists…or when individual firms exaggerate their environmental credentials.

No wonder, some foresee the `death of tourism` (reviewed in the previous article). While I refute the notion, I do not deny the inevitability of decline or death for individual businesses, products, services and experiences. But this is not the death of, but `death in tourism` and, more than likely, death in communities, some of which cannot help but succumb..

Perplexing and paradoxical as this might sound, decline and death coincide with and provide new opportunities for growth. It may be flippant to say, “out with the old in with the new”, but death and decline within societies and systems represent inflection points, transitions toward transformations, a progression from grief to growth.

Progress is always punctuated with hinge moments…times when the future hangs in the balance when our actions can be derailed…when our beliefs are challenged and it becomes difficult to be bold…when we are obliged to carve new paths together even though uncertainties abound. With no choice but to hedge our bets and protect ourselves against downside risks, we are faced with no choice but to push ourselves forward, determined to survive, destined to thrive.

Not to be denied, plenitude and abundance are not neutral terms. They conjure up…

· excess on steroids which connotates waste, greed, and inequality,

· surplus which implies inherent political power in the allocation of resources or the manipulation of labor, nature and culture,

· scarcity which makes certain offerings, experiences and destinations more desirable (and costly) even as they become more abundant (luxury goods),

· profit excess which drives up prices and curtails affordability,

When conflated with disorder and the inherent flaws in a capitalistic world, it is easy to feel deflated, even fatalistic. Capitalism, along with tourism, however, needs to be recognized for its plastic realities…how responsive it can be to adopting new technologies (e.g. imagine the use of co-bots), improving productivity, constantly evolving and adapting to ensure longevity.

In this light, positivity in plenitude and abundance can be found. Witness the beginning of a new resilience economy, smarter economic arrangements, the principles of community-based tourism (that should apply to all communities), a reimagined social and regenerative tourism, utilization of a deep adaptation framework – resilience, relinquishment, restoration and reconciliation – a set of considerations that are similar to the adjustments and changes many organizations undertake when confronted with decline or disruption.

To foster on-going prosperity, each of us as individuals will have to abandon the belief that we lack agency, that `the world happens to us`. Instead, it`s incumbent that we reassure ourselves that `we happen to the world`, that each of us has agency to act without the constant need for permission…thinking and doing because we care…knowing we have the will and capabilities to solve problems, even though we may have never done it before.

This can be community tourism at its best. I imagine Jamaicans responding to the call, rise Jamaica rise, following the devastation caused by hurricane Melissa. Everyone believing in the necessity to build and make their economies truly resilient…but without the constant harangue, scolding and judging that emanates from the virtue industrial complex and academe.

In pursuit of the principles of plenitude we need to recognize that we already have everything we need and that there are multiple examples of progress such as nature positive futures in Japan; reduction in the intensity of energy use (despite slow uptake in many tourism enterprises); and the existence of markets that will reward those organizations and institutions that move beyond working only in self-interest.

I do not recall where I found this quote, but it sums up what is required: “The world increasingly belongs to passionates, obsessives, and fanatics: those who do things for their own sake, rather than as means to other ends.” After all, we can all be the creatives whose acts and actions make change in the world (listen and learn from this TED talk).

To this end, let me finish by talking about a new movie, Mango, on Netflix which I just watched. Yes, it is a predictable rom-com with all the usual shortcomings of a family drama, but I watched it for an entirely different reason. It reveals the blatant attempts by an insensitive hotel developer to take over and destroy a mango orchard situated in the heart of Andalusia, Spain (the region where my father spent his retirement years).

The owner/farmer, barely eking out a living from the crop of mangoes, determined not to sell because of a deep attachment to the land, finally caves in, but only because the developer`s brazenness had been usurped by the guile of her daughter and recognition that a small and non-intrusive, eco-sensitive development could connect and be incorporated into the mango orchard.

In a roundabout way, Mango reveals how plenitude in nature can be protected…how tourism development can be incorporated sensitively and creatively as an entrepreneurial lean startup …authentic to and apropos for communities and their citizenry. Human and community needs infused into business objectives. Business objectives pursued in ways that meet and correspond with community and human needs.

Honorable, certainly, but too largely absent unless we commit to fixing ourselves and building bridges over troubled waters. It may take a long time before we can sing shouldn`t worry about a thing, but through concerted effort, action and patience we can put the right content into commitment as we seek and achieve contentment and overcome the precariousness in plenitude. Tasks that need to be articulated in the DestinationNEXT Futures Study, 2026 or 2027…the outcomes identified and certified through appropriate measures.

Now, will we do the right thing and mend the future, starting today?