The push, pull and pause for patronage and participation
Mind your Ps and Qs (29)
Travel and tourism are inexorably linked to the push and pull of movements promulgated by marketers, influencers, developers, and a vast range of tourism-dependent enterprises gung-ho on attracting visitors. However, given the surge in visitation to popular destinations around the world, Italy for example, many are expressing a need for “pause”, a signal to hold steady, stabilize, subdue, restrict, or discourage – all the antithesis of, or a time-out from, the thrusts of push and pull.
Fundamentally, what`s essential in creating any form of movement is Force. Explained in the most simplistic of push and pull ways, force is a dynamic or energy that`s applied to propel objects (cars, planes, trains), ideas, ideals, or people, forward or backward, slowly or quickly, or as a means of attracting or repelling visitors toward or away from certain places or destinations.
As an instigator of the tourism area life cycle (review my four-segment article, Quintessential Queries in this blog), the quest for growth and advancement requires application of considerable force to propel demand and development. All communities-as-destinations know how demanding and circuitous steep ascents can be when encountering probable but unknown futures.
Once the initial peaks have been determined, reached or possibly breached, (often based on capacities, capabilities, context, and conservation), then it becomes a matter of figuring out how to contain, maintain or stabilize the energized forces during times of change, revitalization or renewal. Regardless of the decisions to expand or not, the gravitational forces of complacency and the status quo are always in play and hard to halt if allowed to slide along downward slopes of descent and discontent.
Within the context of communications “force” seems an unbecoming or incongruous descriptor. In competitive situations, for example, it conveys aggressiveness or combativeness rather than persuasiveness. As most effective salespeople and marketers know, however, cajoling or bribing rarely work. It`s always wiser to communicate in more humanistically and beneficially assertive terms. When the task is to inform, influence, invite, and truly earn people`s patronage, it helps to have a refresher course on the basics in communication, especially if you want it to be a force for good, a force for the common good.
Whether tourism enterprises or destinations are seeking visitors (whose loyalty is sought), strategic partners, supporters, sponsors, or investors (as revealed in this reference to health tourism), patrons must be carefully and longingly courted, if not virtually cuddled.
After all, their individual contributions are essential and determining factors in the success and longevity of any organization or destination. To this end, it`s wise to understand what truly motivates, moves, or immobilizes them, outlined in this handbook of tourism cities. Gaining such awareness is often achieved by utilizing what is called force-field analysis as the means towards discerning the driving or restraining forces leading to action or inaction, likes or dislikes, hopes or fears, advancement or avoidance, or the fulfilling or nullifying of needs.
In attracting visitors from different markets – visiting friends and relatives, business and leisure travel, MICE, demographic (youth markets) or psychographic groupings - and earning their loyalty, marketers seek to improve their understanding, not just of their motivations, but the intensity of the power or force behind the push and pull factors involved…especially when it’s summer in the city.
Such knowledge, wisdom and cultural relevance then has to be put into perspective in order to correspond with the characteristics and complexities of service-based tourism enterprises conducting business within communities-as-destinations…all of which operate and have to be managed in unique ways. Compared to manufacturing enterprises, for example, most tourism-reliant enterprises can`t inventory services. Their capacities (bums-in-seats/beds of hotels, restaurants, performing arts centres, sports stadiums) are time-sensitive and fixed in the short-term.
Such uniqueness is deterministic in how demand is managed…demand which varies and may be unpredictable on day-to-day, seasonal, and cyclical bases. A capriciousness which, when juxtaposed with capacities, puts substantial pressure on financial futures, operational management and, more poignantly, on the sales, marketing, and branding teams that are charged with responsibilities to fill capacities on a daily basis, and to work hand-in-glove with all parties to attract, hold and delight their clients, patrons, customers, visitors, suppliers, citizens, partners and stakeholders, all more or less on an individual basis.
Why mention these far from mundane topics? Because the industry and its workforce labors hard (under the radar for many observers and critics) and is the bedrock on which tourism and communities-as-destinations either succeed or fail. They, through their functionalities and tools - revenue management, pricing, advertising, branding, marketing, product and service development, amenities, attractions, communications and promotions - are forces in and of themselves. Each needs to be acknowledged, understood and reckoned with. As does the importance that has to be given to the overall design of places, for example, hotels (that are transforming home environments), restaurants, event venues and experiences, especially when it comes to the requirements and assurances for consistency in the promises made and assurances of quality.
When it comes to optimizing the “force” in labor force or workforce, many think that it`s accomplished, pushed or imposed through external pressure and procedures to improve efficiency and productivity. It is, but it`s only when the workforce accepts and internalizes the forces that come their way, and results in dedicated efforts to improve the tasks to be done and the desires to do better, be better. The willingness to participate, be involved, care, serve with grace and aplomb is what lifts service and hospitality to new heights, especially when it encourages desires to volunteer and help co-create truly viable forms of community-based tourism.
Though we must be careful. There is a difference between engagement and enrollment.
Whatever the case or situation, communication tools are essential if involvement is to be encouraged, and if any existing operational, structural and cultural barriers are to be dismantled and broken down.
Similarly in reference to encouraging changes to policies. Making tourism more sustainable, for example, requires application of both push and pull management styles and strategies.
Communications also plays a vital part in clarifying the values, behaviors and actions essential to meeting the goals and achieving successful outcomes associated with mission-based economies. Whether in becoming “mission-based” or associated with articulating and delivering on purpose (e.g. delivering on endorsements for “community shared value”), the island nation of Barbados exemplifies and reveals how communications can be used to “pull” values to destinations which, in turn, “pull” visitors, who respect these values, to destinations; “pull” residents of communities to accept and embrace tourism; and. “pull” reluctant workers to the industry, based on the values it delivers on.
The “push and pull” as applied to marketing is not necessarily complex, and can be expressed in very simple ways. To attract conventions and large group meetings, exhibitions, festivals and events, for example, DMOs know that they must constantly advertise and hustle to “push” for awareness, interest, and desire (AID). It`s also essential in explaining, customizing and personalizing the merits of their destinations.
But “push” only becomes successful when ideas or presentations, communicated as stories, really and truly resonate in positive and productive ways…recognition that the messenger as well as the medium can be the message. Resonance being the forceful catalyst that ultimately transforms the “push” coming from destinations to the “pull” that comes from both communicators, developers and recipients, thereby activating the Action portion of the AIDA model.
It`s amazing when the tasks and expense of “push” can be eased; when prospective clients give in to the positive vibes of being “pulled” toward a destination because of its resonance and reputation for delivering on its promises; fulfilling the needs, requirements and expectations of its clients and visitors; being deeply rooted (culturally in the community), and compelling through its inspiring and localized hospitality.
Of course, prior knowledge of a destination whether from personal experience, recommendations, image, and notability for its sustainability initiatives (that align with client`s values) maybe intangible and priceless, but only if it’s constantly supported, updated or renewed.
Innovation represents an essential force in spurring this momentum, especially important if tourism desires recognition as a super-cluster. However, for innovation to scale at destination levels, it`s essential that it become a collaborative undertaking, especially between legacy organizations and entrepreneurial start-ups, as well as localized and regional supply chains. With tourism and more destinations interested in becoming mission-based and/or moving toward industry 4.0 paradigms, it`s crucial for industry leaders to perfect their “pull management styles”, particularly if they shift their marketing to become demonstrably engaging and participatory..
Which brings us to contemplate the merits of “pause”. We all know that the capacity of sponge destinations (that absorb too many visitors) is reaching tipping points…revealed as a moral maze by those who want to stop the hurt.
With tensions rising and pressure points percolating, industry and community leaders are having to step up and resolve the ripple-effect of problems. If not, patronage will falter, and tourism and destinations will court disaster. Self-inflicted disaster that also comes when a country or destination’s politics are perceived as threatening and travel to them is boycotted.
The culprit: Antipathy toward a destination’s pomp and circumstance, and the overwhelming forcefulness of push and pull that’s challenging policy formulation, and demanding circumspection in the search for remedies for consequences.
The basic requirement: Managerial agility searching for a more joyful sound.