In the new situation mankind is facing, embracing adaptation and change not only helps the planet but is necessary to safe your destination or company from losing tourism business or closure.
The climate catastrophe is resulting in many traditional business models in tourism like beach holidays, city strolls, skiing being and many others being threatened by heat waves, draughts, floodings, forest fires, contamination, lack of drinking water. Host communities are trying to take back the ownership of their living space by protests against overtourism. Until now, most governments and companies react with short-sighted symbolic actions and employees react with their feet by leaving the industry.
The Meaningful Tourism paradigm is not yet another certification or a purely academic exercise. It is meant to provide a practical tool for all stakeholders involved to get their fair share of the increases in quality, benefits and satisfaction which can be the result of tourism if it is organised in a way which simply does not accept that any of the stakeholder groups is not included in the positive results or even suffers negative results from tourism developments. It is not offering partial solutions like entrance fees for main destinations or discrimination of specific visitor groups, which result in less business for local tourism service providers and retailers. It is also embracing creative destruction (Schumpeter) by actively adapting to new circumstances instead of holding on to yesterday’s business models like summer beach holidays or hoping to keep skiing resorts alive with the help of snow cannons.
Meaningful Tourism works in a step-by-step approach for nations, regions, cities, private tourism and hospitality service providers, retailers, attractions, transportation companies and infrastructure and other players.
Based on an audit of the current situation with the help of a set of Meaningful Tourism Index indicators, the impact on benefits and satisfaction of tourism for each of the six stakeholders is established, with strengths and weaknesses highlighted.
In a second step the Meaningful Tourism Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are customised for the specific region or company in a guided process which includes all stakeholders in the decision-making process.
Finally, contradictions are identified and methods for alignment of interest to dissolve such contradictions defined and accordingly executed. The KPIs connected to the process are measured annually to support the way towards a complete alignment.
Learn more about Meaningful Tourism in our YouTube video: https://youtu.be/BN39qPKZWZ8?si=LyCrp5Z_waDFuz_L