Pressures and problems

Mind your Ps and Qs (12)

Beyond self-imposed internal hurdles, there exist a wide variety of external ones which impact on communities-as-destinations and can create havoc for all of travel and tourism’s stakeholders. 

·       Employees who complain how constant change affects multiple aspects of their jobs. 

·       Residents who feel under the pressure from the crush of visitors.  

·       Communities becoming brittle when working beyond capacity.

·       The voice of nature that is desperately seeking sustainability and regeneration.

·       Businesses and visitors who are subjected to and must learn how to operate, adapt and function in accord with a wide range of events, crises, security alerts, rules, regulations, and restrictions, including policies, political interference and developments, all imposed by local, regional, and national governments, as well as by our collective impact on nature that gives rise to climatic catastrophes. 

Unfortunately, few people outside the industry have any idea as to the difficulties facing anyone who operates or works in a travel and tourism enterprise…the degree of finesse required to create value when subjected to, technological change, market forces, growth and volatility of market demand, including customer bargaining power, the impact of economic business cycles, and the direct and indirect rivalry from other up-and-coming enterprises and other communities-as-destinations. 

How industry structures and strategies are constantly shifting and making it extremely difficult to integrate and adjust to policy trends, technological and environmental shifts, and to sustain any sense of product, positional, or performance advantage.    

No one can deny the importance of being attentive to tourism’s transgressions and negative impacts on communities and regions – the need for resolution to travel and tourism`s impact on climate change, pollution, poverty, gentrification and related sustainability and D.I.E issues.  Including the short-sightedness, neglect, or greed of some operators – witness the 1300 people who died of heat exhaustion at the Hajj pilgrimage in 2024 because travel agencies failed to provide the right visas and support services.

As I heard said: “Despair is a luxury we can`t afford anymore.”

While feeling beleaguered, many industry leaders and managers are trying their best to address important problems, but in the short term much more needs to be accomplished. For example, adapting to the climate we already have, more effective environmentalism, constantly relearning how to navigate all manifestations of change…even to ensure the horrific  and nullifying policy proposals coming from the far right (e.g. Project 25) don’t get implemented.

As a world, we are involved in an age of revolutions and are flummoxed as to how we should respond.  Many of our downtowns are struggling, retail is facing a perfect storm, and tourism’s resilience is being severely tested.  It is possible to move beyond resilience so long as we make the effort to become anti-fragile and work constantly to revise our strategies and business models to achieve a competitive advantage for our communities-as-destinations that we love and want to protect, though this can be complicated when cash-flows slow to a trickle, organizations require hard-to-obtain financial assistance, and hospitality investment pullbacks start to occur.

It's all well and good to encourage businesses to comply simply by focusing on improving their operational effectiveness (the quest for productivity, cost management, quality and speed), but such efforts cannot be equated or equivalent to the need to enhance a destination’s stewardship (e.g Los Angeles or through international symposiums on destination stewardship) that require the need to enact carefully conceived strategies.

At conceptual levels, communities-as-destinations are being forced to play by a set of ever new and evolving rules.  In order to help and assist tourism’s practitioners and stakeholders become more astute, aware, and responsive to rapid change (e.g. generating payoffs from circularity), it certainly would help if greater effort was put into working with tourism clusters especially through efforts to improve connectivity (as profiled in the destination stewardship symposium report) and ensure empathy becomes a social norm.

Strategy is about being different, choosing a different set of activities (choosing what to do as well as what not to do) to deliver a unique mix of value – the magnetic force that inevitably results in attracting imitators unless the fit and configuration among capabilities, competencies and activities remain unique, consistent and reinforcing over time…which it often doesn’t, particularly if communities-as-destinations and their business enterprises get caught in various types of growth traps, “vibecessions”, or tragedies of the commons.

Pressures and problems, regardless as to how they originate, can, but needn’t, cause pain.  When allowed to languish, though, they will anguish.  While academic communities give credence to the critiques, manifestations, and negative impacts associated with tourism, all are deserving of our attentiveness and resolution.  Perhaps our brains need chaos!

Though it’s always easier to solve other people’s problems, it’s important to note how many are beyond the capabilities of individual organizations or communities.  They require a whole-of-government response, often due, for example, to climate change’s impact on destinations (e.g. Rural Okanagan), and inadequate planning for the expected seasonal influx of visitors especially in regard to infrastructure and transportation.  Regardless, everyone could be doing more to build awareness as to their severity of these issues and choose the right moment to bring them to resolution, so long as they truly appreciate and understand the significance of the disruption nexus.

In doing so, it helps to think of ‘pressures and problems” as opportunities to make carefully considered choices in regard to altering aspirations, resolving capacity limitations, pursuing social change, or creating value…opportunities to strengthen relationships…opportunities to differentiate ourselves from others. Every pressure and problem an opportunity in disguise.

Certainly, many of the challenges people, organizations and communities face seem insurmountable and complex.  For example, many communities-as-destinations are suffering from climate catastrophes (extreme heat) and huge labor shortages.  Closure of businesses during COVID resulted in bankruptcies and foreclosures.  Climate costs are escalating. Rampant inflation has forced prices to escalate, and people to re-think how they generate and spend discretionary funds. With businesses facing cash-flow problems and collapsing profit margins, many businesses are having to rethink their business and operating models.

As a hypermobile industry, travel and tourism are being singled out for their dependence on fossil fuels and as being major contributors to the planet’s carbon crisis.  In the years ahead they are going to have to be involved in reconfiguring and reinventing mobility eco-systems  (even helping those who travel long distances to unwind and adapt from jet lag, for example.  More so than ever, the industry needs to be encouraging Climate Friendly Travel, with some communities-as-destinations even realizing the need for a Marshall Plan for Tourism that will require deep adaptation.

Governments and NGOs enact many well-intentioned policies and programs, but too often they either fall far short of what is required or are poorly communicated or implemented… suggesting a need for motivating empathy and making it a social norm.  That is why Destinations-in-Action seeks to expand the opportunity for its members and subscribers to contribute their thoughts and experiences so others can learn how to improve or transform their communities-as-destinations and regain the trust of residents.  Everyone needing to be more diligent in providing evidence in support of their recommendations and solutions. 

Destinations-in-Action communicating, responding and re-shaping new realities rich with promise, providing ideas as how best to lead under pressure.