Prioritizing people, participants, players and partners

Mind your Ps and Qs (22)

Something magical happens when we shape community agendas through common interests rather than special interests. After all, when the development of communities-as-destinations (a special interest) is determined by the will of the people within communities, rather than by institutional fiat, destinations are more likely to be viewed as real communities that welcome visitors to share their spaces, to interact within them, learn and enjoy through them.

Shared spaces where people put down residential roots and plan to stay. Shared spaces where people participate in pursuit of private lives, livelihoods and lifestyles. Shared spaces that are shaped and sustained as neighborhoods and the pleasance of neighborhood niches. Shared spaces that represent great, good places for pursuit of everyone’s informal public lives. Shared spaces enhanced through the co-presence, co-creation and communal life of everyone. Shared spaces as places where resident hosts invite and interact with guests and visitors. Shared spaces in which communities wittingly, as well as unwittingly, become destinations, renowned for welcoming those who "Come From Away" .

Through tourism, which is everybody’s business, communities bring people together in shared spaces in which individual citizens and residents reveal their humanity and express their care for others through intentional hospitality, rather than untouchable hospitality. And yet, as unsettling as it may sound, untouchable hospitality seems to represent the norm in some destinations, especially when recalcitrant individuals express hostilities toward the hordes, though often for good reason.

Being circumspect in the presence of others who we do not know is a common phenomenon. While we all express our territoriality in different ways, there are visible borders and invisible boundaries which determine identity and deserve respect. Unfortunately, the intrusions of others, many of whom are unlike us and are unaware of certain expectations and hidden rules of behavior, can be bothersome.

Even in the best of times, and without the presence of tourists, community life within shared spaces can be contentious. Consider the problems that arise within residential neighborhoods when zoning violations, lack of planning, and actions of big business are deemed unfair and unjust.

But when tourism, as an immersive experience, infringes on everyday routines, community, residential and street life, tensions rise. This story of outrage coming from the beautiful town of Niagara on the Lake is a case in point, even though a study conducted to evaluate resident’s feelings about tourism and its impact on quality of life in the same town seems contradictory, it needn’t be,

We all hold opposing opinions about shared space and the presence of others. For the most part, local citizens do acknowledge the many benefits that can be derived from tourism but can get quite upset when certain tourism-related developments are misplaced and destroy the essence of place, when mobility and ease of movement calcifies, capacities become overwhelmed, norms contravened, and we get to a point where we feel overwhelmed and want to withdraw, screen out and exclude others. Our sense of privacy and calm, disrupted.

Whereas the expansionary nature of other types of industry clusters pushes products or services out of communities or regions, the sectoral components of tourism clusters pull people toward communities and regions When spurred through governmental approvals and organizational opportunism, the marketing activities of tourism clusters serve to reshape communities into destinations.

Expressed another way, the presence and activities of tourism clusters create a vexing conundrum. In fact, it isn’t just the heightened level of demand in high seasons that can overwhelm spatial capacities, but that tourism, inadequately and poorly developed, created and managed, can undermine the very notion of what it means to live in and be part of a community, which ideally is primarily manifest through the formation and maintenance of RELATIONSHIPS…relationships that are the energetic core of communities.

Sad to say, but when so much of what happens in tourism becomes purely competitive and transactional, that which is relational, personal and emotional can become sidelined, neglected, dismissed, or overwhelmed. That is not to say that cooperation and collaboration are not evident, they are, but only to the degree that economic benefits are derived and represent the end game. Tourism is a business after all, and an important one in terms of the vast amounts of revenues, jobs and taxes produced. But why should that be, or remain, the dominant concern, theme or purpose?

Surviving and thriving as communities has always depended on establishing relationships with fellow tribes, traders and travelers. With its historic context well expressed through Homer’s telling of the Odessey, which set the stage for highlighting our obligations to be hospitable to strangers, we are better able to ascertain people’s intentions and establish trusting relationships and friendships that permit transactions to occur…an ethos under threat these days and about to have a harrowing resonance – every country, organization, and man for himself.

Realization that relationships represent a form of currency that could be exchanged (a reciprocity of sorts) has led to the formation of “relationship economics” that, over the years, has become the gateway to business and the creation of value. But value for whom?

Examine any destination’s tourism cluster, you will note that it is a cluster of self-serving brands, each insisting on promoting the uniformity of their own brand image, often with insufficient attention given to the destination brand, let alone any attempt to integrate the values of the residents and citizens of the communities or the values of the customer/visitor/ guest.

Though it could be argued that many organizations and destinations employ market segmentation and psychographics to understand individual values, rarely is there sufficient attempt to deliver an impactful cultural dividend, nor an attempt to fit them into a framework of integrated values that has functional, emotional, life-affirming and have social impact components.

Expressed another way, value does not exist unless it is recognized by individual recipients and can be assessed by them in terms of a valuation of benefits and costs, whether they be personal, economic, social, political or environmental in nature.

Moreover, in studies of tourism clusters it is notable how little attention is given to determining what type of value is being created or captured by, or for, different stakeholders. A shortcoming that’s evident when countries simply attempt to identify tourism’s contributions through wealth and well-being indexes.

Indeed, with the concentration of power residing in the head offices of the major corporations and institutions (many existing outside of communities in question) most organizations, even destinations, seem disconnected (unconcerned) about the macro level of value gained or lost. Instead, most are fixated on the market forces at work, operational efficiencies, bottom line performance, and expanding the scope and scale of tourism activities, usually with minimal involvement of, or concern for, the wider community and its citizenry.

In fact, it is amazing how blind the authorities can be to the actual involvement of and contributions by individual residents in tourism. Just as a matter of curiosity, consider how often, during a month or year, you invite out-of-town guests to your community or home. If you operate a business, how often do you invite customers, suppliers and salespeople to carry out a task or activity, to visit and entertain them? Put pen to paper and calculate how much you spend on average for each occasion. What about over the course of a month or year?

Let us assume that in a town of 50,000 people, 16,000 households invited 2 guests for an average stay of 1.5 days and did this 3 times during the year. The last time this occurred in our home we spent approximately $200 (Canadian) per day for our guests`food and drinks alone. Then add the number of times 5,000 businesspeople entertained the same number of out-of-town associates for an average of 15 times a year with an expenditure of $35.00 per guest. In total, $31+ million would have been contributed to the economy of your town. Chump change? Definitely not. Yet, these expenditures are rarely recognized, nor are individual efforts of residents and their role as influencers, contributors and marketers.

We normally just pay tribute to the organizational and institutional components of tourism clusters, but even here, their contributions wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the talent, sociability and emotional labor of every employee who serves as a community host. And what about their (voluntary) role in organizing festivals, events, sports tournaments, parades, and celebrations.

If we are to prioritize people, participants, players and partners as key to the success of our communities-as-destinations, we must be more forthright in recognizing and affirming not just their contributions, but in furthering their creative talents and ensuring that meaningful value is being created and captured by them, through them and for them. This calls for a new operating model for people management, more personal, more tech and more human.

These days we hear a lot about how tourism is gradually becoming untethered from its bearings and is losing its cachet as a contributor to the health, well-being and wealth of communities, their hosts and guests. While it is a fact revealed in many studies and reports from the OECD, UNWTO, Destinations International, other NGOs and tourism agencies, there are communities such as the city of Bruges, Belgium, whose four leaf clover approach to achieving a balanced, connected, attractive and enterprising city through tourism, is signaling some of the right sentiments.

Which leads us to question why should the DMOs, visitor-serving organizations and institutions get all the credit for tourism development and arrivals, not the residents and citizens of communities, particularly when the results are under or over-estimated. Consider the situation regarding the number of arrivals on any form of public transportation. Rarely are there distinctions made between actual visitors and those who may be returning residents, travelling salespeople or people travelling for medical reasons.

It is time we recognized that a community`s tourism cluster is more inclusive and expansive than is given credit for. Sure, some people might argue that this is not how we have customarily defined or regarded tourism in our communities, but should that really matter?

Not only are we all (simultaneously) hosts and guests, but maybe we should recognize that all people who reside in the surrounding region and purposefully come to our communities, regardless of reason, are visitors of merit. They and those who serve them deserve to be recognized and honored.

As industry leaders and managers, we need to act and behave with far more humility. We do not deserve to take all the credit for the success of our communities-as-destinations. Just as communities are shared spaces, we owe it to share tourism`s success with everyone within the community as a whole…all the unsung heroes.

Taxi drivers, customs agents, cooks, waiters, artists, sales clerks, housekeepers, garbage collectors, farmers, delivery staff, building engineers, pilots, security personnel, tour guides, conference organizers, sporting and cultural event promoters and coordinators, market vendors, musicians, even our parents, children and extended families, for they demonstrate the true essence of caring, compassion, cohabitation and co-creation…an ensemble of stars where everyone should be treated equally with respect and dignity.

As stated in a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “Leaders Shouldn’t Try to Do it All” because they can`t and don’t. Through leadership development and a focus on what they can do better than anyone else, they can take on the truly critical tasks that will give their communities-as-destinations the best chance of creating value for all stakeholders that serve and affirm the purpose of communities-as-destinations…a purpose that honors that which is personal and relational, and creates equitable partnerships for progress.

In thinking how we might accomplish this task, let’s start by gathering around our tables in our shared spaces to share thoughts and break bread together.

As the song goes, Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand and make our communities and the world a better place. We are better together when we break bread together