Puzzling through paucity, privation and peace

Manage your Ps and Qs (24, Part 1)

As made evident in the prior post, strengthening the resilience of communities-as-destinations demands preparedness. But resilience demands more. The strength of a community depends on the robustness and fairness of its foundational principles and social connectedness. A place where everyone feels a sense of togetherness, relatability, connection, part of a greater whole and truly valued by their community.

Only then can it muster the ability to handle hardships and repel perils and hazards not just from the outside (the whiplash of irrational events and an upending of stability) but from the inside, particularly the instability of formal and informal institutional interactions, lack of continuity in public policies, arbitrary budgetary assignments, and changes in the prioritization of implementation.

After all, in many communities, not everyone feels supported emotionally and tangibly. Depending on the locale, many lack contacts and connections to needed resources like housing, food banks, clean water, health care, safety and security from social, climatic and natural mishaps. If, as has been said, Tourism Cares, why then has caring become and remained the domain of NGOs (in solidarity with, or as a form of control over, their clientele)?

These days every industry seems to have jumped onto the Community Shared Value bandwagon in order to cement their legitimacy. But nothing changes unless the rhetoric is enacted and translated into good deeds…unless leaders and managers throughout tourism and destinations demonstrate they care, rather than work in opposition in ways that are not in alignment with shared value. Instead, shouldn`t they be leading the charge, demonstrating action, revealing how tourism really serves the public and the citizenry of communities in which tourism takes place, not just create value for visitors and visitor-serving organizations?

Understandably, such a requirement may seem like a hard sell given the specificity of the mandates and missions of individual enterprises (where duties are to shareholders) but surely not for entire tourism clusters. Because they are in service to communities, regions or countries, the benefits they provide require true alignment between their economic and social development agendas if they hope to achieve net positive outcomes with collective impact.

Formulated as community-based stewardship, leaders and managers can choose to manifest the integrity and destiny of communities-as-destinations and destinations-as-communities by…

· Synchronizing individual, organizational and community-wide interests to a shared vision and sense of purpose.

· Activating a culture of inclusion and belonging.

· Demonstrating a desire to listen and learn.

· Ensuring an equitable approach to community governance, and by

· Working cooperatively with others to measure and ensure health and well-being.

As Larry Winget has opined:

“Every time you’re tempted to slack off or do or be a little less than you could, remember that you are a person of integrity who lives by the simple creed: do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it, the way you said you would do it.”

Bringing stewardship to life need not be difficult. It requires a deep commitment to service…authentic service that represents a balance of power where people act on their own choices rather than through domination and absolute compliance. If authentic service is to represent a commitment to the larger community, however, there must be a balanced and equitable distribution of rewards and value that passes the test of the spirit as well as the practicality of the marketplace.

Though I wonder: Where is the detailed destination-by-destination evidence that this is occurring? We have the information and knowledge as to what needs to be done, now we need to leap into action, beginning by learning from success and heartaches – in depth stories and case studies of the trials and tribulations of what actually was tried and transpired.

This brings into consideration concepts such as `paucity`, `privation` and ‘peace’ that appear prominently in the literature of the academy and, in not-so-subtle ways, seem to be appropriately addressed and adhered to in most indigenous and community-based tourism (CBT) mandates.

Though I am perplexed: Why are such mandates and their attributes rarely demonstrated or in evidence in more developed countries, regions or cities? Today evidence points to the fact that all communities-as-destinations deserve to have CBT mandates and can learn from the experiences in many developing countries especially when aligned with the UN`s Sustainable Development Goals.

Regardless of where we are in the world, we all need to be summoned to stewardship. Its jumping-off point starts with an understanding of the ’paucity predicament’. All communities, cities, and regions, grapple with shortages, neglect, and abandonment. Well documented are the profound and deleterious impacts on individuals, towns (coastal areas), villages, rural and agricultural regions (exacerbated by land degradation), and urban areas.

Paucity intensifies as we flounder in our efforts to live up to our collective obligations in regard to human rights and indigenous rights (including reconciliation). A subject highly relevant and of concern to tourism, communities-as-destinations, and some organizations like Hilton, or the Dertour Group that have incorporated human rights into Codes of Conduct for Suppliers.

Still, there are still many who wonder how honest the hospitality and tourism industry has been in regard to upholding these rights, as accusations regarding abuse persist and many CSR initiatives are considered a façade or a case of wish-washing. So, who is doing, monitoring, and accomplishing what? How are human rights being enforced? Where are the best practices? Who are the best practitioners?

While organizations like the Borgen Project in Peru and the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance are admirable supporters, how many communities-as-destinations, their DMOs, and related tourism organizations have mounted and proceeded with dedicated poverty reduction programs, proving that tourism can help rectify poverty and inequality?

Obviously, the problem is complex and multifaceted requiring more be done to create pro-poor tourism policies, identify development zones, provide assistance to SMEs, invest in training and poverty reduction projects, monitor and measure the impacts and results of programs. Utilizing a capability approach, it is time that disadvantaged people be afforded greater opportunity to advance their well-being, agency and freedom.

NOTE: Part 2 will follow in the next post