Why all travel is local

and why Conscious Hosts Will be Indigenous

While I also subscribe to the importance of the journey and, where possible, would prefer to travel slowly and savour the transition from the familiar to the unknown, most times I have to fly.

the shoeless airport shuffle

Then I stop being a traveler and, instead, become a producer of air passenger miles and carbon; a unit of yield as far as the airline is concerned; and a human piece of baggage that doesn’t have the benefit of being placed on a conveyor belt!

Instead, I must negotiate kiosks, print boarding cards and baggage tags, have papers scrutinized, be required to undress and dress at various points and to varying degrees, avoid the bright lights and temptations of that garish place called “Duty Free” to traverse  more sterile corridors before reaching an anonymous staging area devoid of food or water. Next comes the delight of sitting in an aluminum tube, fretting over whether the movies will be sufficiently distracting, the food palatable and my neighbour of average weight and girth!

Room with a View - first night in Wellington

Most people survive this transition in their own version of coma. One is transported but sadly not in the rapturous and ecstatic sense our forbears imagined when they applied the term. The ordeal is not yet complete – shortly after the tube engages with the terminal’s tentacles, the weary shuffle commences down more anonymous corridors to be welcomed by personnel trained in the art of suspicion not hospitality.  Hopefully a re-union with one’s own baggage will soon occur.  Finally, the opaque doors slide open and we weary but expectant tourists are   “there” – the place that has been capturing our imaginations for weeks.

And now you can and must wake up – for now you are a stranger in a foreign land, a visitor, and ideally a welcomed guest.

The ground on which you now stand is unique – it took 13.5 billion years for this piece of geography to form and it expresses a unique relationship with our sun, the moon, the planets and our galaxy.

But does it feel different on being ejected from that sterile place called in transit? Might it have the capacity to affect a transformation of some kind? Are you aware of the essence or spirit of this place? Do you sense that you have arrived somewhere truly else?  For if you don’t, then was the toll on your body and the cost to the earth, really worth it?

The biggest tragedy of modern, mass industrial tourism is that it has completely missed the point – the essence of travel is about being changed by our experience of unique places – yet, in our earnest attempts to standardize, homogenize, and render efficient or convenient, we have sucked the life blood, the juice, and, worse still, the mystery out of places.

An indigenous person will tell you that the land on which you stand is sacred. Their individual identity is shaped by their relationship with all aspects of the place they call home; the relationship they treasure with their ancestors and, in turn, the relationship those ancestors had with the place. Their presence also changed the place because all beings – whether perceived as sentient or not – are in a dialogue, a dance of vibration. So your presence will also affect this place and, if you are awake, aware and alert, you will let it change you.

Hence my assertion: all travel is local. Despite the act of getting there, all travelers do eventually arrive at a locality and experience its uniqueness.

And if all travel is local, then ideally all hosts should be indigenous in the deepest sense of the word….

Welcome to the Marae in Te Papa, Wellington

So local travel is not a peripheral aspect of travel; a nice “add on” but central –  the core of travel.  Local travel isn’t just about meeting the locals – people who live in the locality – or even about buying handmade things from local people but about ensuring as, as guest, your every sense is buffetted by the rich mix of sounds, smells, sights, textures and tastes that convince you that you have arrived are somewhere different, unique, and, as a result, sacred. For inspiration just see the Flickr Group: Local is Beautiful. Ron Mader, thanks, I can taste those Flores de Frijolin con Guacamole from here.

Indigenous people know how to do this naturally – they don’t need a course in hospitality. It’s in their DNA, regardless of which tribe they associate with. They have been doing it for tens of thousands of years. They don’t need to be brought into the mainstream. We must sit at their feet by the campfires that have been burning for millennia and learn from the shadows on the cave wall or the stars that rise and fall on the velvety purple sky outside.

The only way we’ll rescue the future of tourism from the insanity and tyranny of its current model is to become indigenous in mind, heart and soul, given that indigenous means to “originate or occur naturally in a particular place.” To my mind, being indigenous doesn’t necessarily mean to have got there first but  to have developed and respected a profoundly moving and dynamic relationship with the spatial and temporal dimensions of a place.  To be indigenous or native is to have been shaped by the geography and history of a locality and to be able to express that shaping in language, cuisine, ritual, architecture, mythology, dance, agriculture, costume, poetry and, most of all, in stories.  It means to honour its manu, its essence, its spirit. But most importantly, to be indigenous is to know that as a human being you have a duty of custodianship for the sake of all sentient beings, for your tribe, your guests and the generations yet to be born let alone conceived.

Thus first task of every conscious host is to become an “indigene” …

We’ll explore what that means in Part 2 to follow.

LINKS
Indigenous Tourism Festival in Brazil today: http://gobrazil.about.com/od/brazilindiantribes/ss/National-Indigenous-Culture-Festival.htm 

Bookmark Link to Planeta’s Indigenous Tourism Conference in August
http://www.planeta.com/indigenous.html

A reason to be hopeful – Happy Easter!

We all know that Easter is a time in the calendar of the northern hemisphere when humans have celebrated the arrival of Spring and the commencement of a new growing season. Being English, daffodills and primroses are the signs that Easter is soon coming!

The significance of what has only recently become a religious festival or even more recently a commercial one, pre-dates Christianity by thousands of years. I write this in Sydney where the days are shortening as “winter” approaches but that is no less reason to be hopeful as winter is a great season for reflection and spending time with friends and family knowing Spring is not that far away.

I wanted to take a break from writing to sharing two videos that express why I do what little I can do to midwife the birth of a new era in our common story. Because I have worked for about 40 years in travel & tourism and because this phenomena connects and touches so many people’s lives, I do believe that it has the potential to be an effective agent of change but only if we become conscious of all aspects of its influence – the positive and the destructive. We must resist the tendency towards “wilful blindness” and pretend that tourism – as practiced – is just a force for good no matter how appealing that message might appear.

I have spoken at three conferences since December: PATA’s Responsible Travel’s Forum in Beijing; PATA’s Adventure and Responsible Tourism event in Bhutan and, most recently at the Pacific Asia Indigenous Tourism Conference in Darwin organised by ATEC & PATA where we witnessed the birth of the World Tourism Indigenous Tourism Alliance. Each presentation was unique (my slides are here) but conveyed the message expressed in the previous paragraph. What struck me was the enthusiastic and passionate response that was evoked and affirms that many people in tourism are indeed waking up, growing up, and stepping up and creating Places that uniquely Care!  It’s an exciting time to be alive and working in a field that encompasses and integrates the work of eco, geo, sustainable, responsible, fair trade, local, ethical travel and tourism.

The first video presents the thoughts of one of the greatest cosmologists of our time, Thomas Berry. More information on the work of Thomas Berry can be seen here: http://www.earth-community.org/

The second describes the process of change that is taking place right now using the well established metaphor of the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly to cast light on current events. This video is produced by a former geneticist, Dr Bruce Lipton,  who is now integrating much of  current thinking into an exposition of the crossroads facing humanity. His current book Spontaneous Evolution is my favourite book purchase in a very long time. I first heard the caterpillar story some 7 years ago and it’s even more inspiring when you see it paying out in reality.

Thank you subscribers, readers and commentators for all your support and encouragement. If you like these videos, please share…

Happy Easter!

From differentiation to making a difference.

In this succinct and thought provoking video. Umair Haque (HBR blogger, author of the New Capitalist Manifesto) shows how marketing is being turned on its head from a focus on differentiation (the vain attempt to show that each product is bigger, better, faster than the next one when all know its is virtually the same) to making a difference (showing the capacity of the product or experience to make a person’s life better.

Marketers have to take on the task of amplifying and enhancing human potential 

Umair cites Nike – instead of describing the features of a particular shoe, Nike talks about how the shoes will make you a better runner.

The more we try to differentiate the same old stuff, the more we’re playing a game of diminishing returns.

Pine & Gilmore in their seminal work The Experience Economy written back in 1999 suggested that turning a product into an experience was the first step a producer could take to both differentiate and combat the sameness of a commodity. But the best chapter in the book is its last when they anticipate The Transformation Economy (see a review written back in 2006) which is unfolding now

As described in our paper, Can Tourism Change its Operating Model?  (subscribe to receive) and summarised here,  the tourism industry has a major problem – year on year returns and margins shrink as the industrial model relentlessly turns sacred places into commodities. We are increasingly swimming in a sea of sameness.

A conscious host understands that their underlying purpose is to create the conditions whereby a guest experiences some form of highly personal, subjective transformation. Their experience makes them a better person; in Haque’s words “it amplifies and enhances human potential.”

That’s why I believe it so important we remind ourselves of the deeper underlying purpose of travel

So travel marketers, how can the experience you offer change the lives of your guest in some meaningful way? How will your guests return home changed? 

Why Bhutan IS the First Conscious Travel Destination

I recently fulfilled a dream of 35+ years – to visit the Kingdom of Bhutan where its enlightened, conscious leader and 4th King had bravely pioneered the concept of “Gross National Happiness.” I was given the privilege of giving the opening keynote at PATA’s conference on Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism – the speech is on slide share here.

As readers of this blog know, Conscious Travel is an embryonic, emerging concept still taking form. We are encouraging debate on the qualities and characteristics of Conscious Hosts who can attract Conscious Travelers – those visitors who are awake and aware of their impact on the destination and who are committed to maximizing net benefits to it. So the concept of what makes for a “Conscious Travel Destination” is still in its formative stages. (As it develops it will support and integrate the principles underlying responsible, sustainable, geo, eco, fair, good tourism). 

Even though Bhutan’s tourism economy is very young, it shines as a beacon of hope exemplifying what a Conscious Travel Destination could be and here’s why:

$65 of the daily tarriff goes to provide education & healthcare

1. Well-being. In Bhutan, tourism is recognized as one means towards achieving and sustaining the well-being of its citizens. As a consequence, tourism is not just about growing GDP, or increasing volume. All policies with respect to its development are viewed through the lens of 72 Gross National Happiness Indicators based on the four pillars of GNH (ecological balance; cultural vitality, sustainable, equitable economy and good governance). As Bhutan is still listed as one of the Less Developed Countries of the world, with an estimated 23% of its population living below the poverty line, it needs to develop its economy in order to improve its well-being and tourism is the fourth contributor to GDP. Despite these economic pressures, Bhutan is committed to pacing the growth of tourism to ensure that it doesn’t diminish cultural or environmental values.

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2. Place: The Bhutanese people and their leaders intrinsically recognize that Bhutan (like any other country, or region) is unique and its value lies in its location, geology, geography, landscape, history and living culture. Because they value themselves and the place they call home, they have never discounted its value and taken sensible steps to ensure that tourism is developed at a pace that doesn’t undermine its culture. 

Up until the early 1990s, a tourist quota was imposed in addition to a minimum daily tariff. All visitors are required to plan their travel with the assistance of a Bhutanese tour operator who arranges and supplies accommodation, food, transportation and guiding services for a minimum daily fee of US$250. Of this fee, a $65 royalty is paid directly to the Government to fund health and education. Every visitor has personal access to a trained, educated, English speaking guide whose intent and purpose is to ensure that the visitor experience is transformative. 

The daily tariff ( US$250 per day) has not only controlled the pace of growth but has shown visitors how their spending directly affects the quality of life experienced by their hosts. 

Bhutan’s recognition of the “power of place” and its commitment to expressing its unique spirit is perfectly reflected in their choice of branding “Bhutan – Happiness is a Place” – a tagline which is a truthful distillation of what Bhutan is all about and what the country means to its people.

3. Limits: Thanks to their love of their land and the spiritual values that shape their mindset and actions, the Bhutanese understand and respect the concept of limits. Built into their values is the notion of sufficiency, fairness and service. The Prime Minister of Bhutan, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y. Thinley, defines happiness in the context of GNH as follows:

“We know that true abiding happiness cannot exist while others suffer, and comes only from serving others, and living in harmony with nature.”



No sane person would deny the right of the Bhutanese to lift their people out of poverty and increase the quality of their lives. Nor do westerners like me have any right to impose our nostalgia and grief at the loss of so much cultural diversity elsewhere in the world on the inhabitants of this little country. But the healthy sense of self worth exhibited by the Bhutanese suggest to me that this is a living, dynamic culture capable of balancing the need to both preserve, conserve and adapt.

Lonely Planet's Map of Bhutan

Located in between two of the most populous, fastest growing economies of the world (India and China), it would be tempting to open the gates and maximize visitor volume. Instead, Bhutan has increased the minimum daily tariff (from US$200 to US$250) and set itself a modest growth target of 100,000 visitors by 2015. Its first priority is to ensure that the existing, active 320 Bhutanese tour operators and 120 accommodation suppliers are operating healthy sustainable businesses and contributing to the vitality of its communities.
4. Value: Bhutan tries to give its guests good value while ensuring that tourism generates net value to its citizenry. The minimum daily tariff that all operators must adhere to makes it difficult, if not impossible, for price discounting to be used to gain market share. Instead, the inbound tour operators and suppliers of accommodation, transport and guiding services, must compete on the basis of service quality. Customer satisfaction, as expressed to the inbound tour operator, provides the “feedback loop” which determines which suppliers will be used the next time.
5. Local & Authentic: Visitors to Bhutan can be assured that their visit benefits locals as the inbound airline, all accommodation, and all inbound tour operations are locally owned and managed. Most of the food served is locally grown and prepared. (Bhutan intends and is working hard to ensure that its agricultural sector is 100% organic). Its attractions are primarily natural sites (trekking & wildlife viewing) and cultural/spiritual sites (monasteries, fortresses; memorials) or activities (Festivals) that are locally funded and managed. Bhutan is a living culture that invests in developing the artistic skills of its young.
6. A Place That Cares: for such a young country (Bhutan only switched from a theocracy to modern, parliamentary democracy in 2008), it demonstrates a remarkable maturity that reflects its cultural/spiritual values of service, compassion, personal responsibility and caring. Three examples support this observation.

The Host as Change Agent.

There is growing recognition of the role that business can and must play in achieving well-being. Karma Tshiteem, Secretary of the GNH Commission highlighted at a recent ‘Happiness & Economic Development’ conference that



“It is an urgent need that we engage the profit-driven business sector, and that we make the GNH discussion relevant to this sector. Otherwise, we’ll have a very powerful force working against us.”

The tourism community in Bhutan has not been slow to respond. At the time of Karma Tshiteem’s statement, two of Bhutan’s more innovative tourism companies, Yanpghel Adventure Travel and Hotel Zhiwa Ling, had already embarked on a GNH in Business project. This program:

Lobby of the Zhiwa Ling Hotel

“offers a tool to bring sane and responsible behaviors into the business sector, which are driven by a genuine intention among the leadership of a business. A GNH Business is nothing less than a powerful change agent within its community with a genuine commitment to serve others…These companies are able to answer clearly and confidently three key questions: 1) What is enough profit for the owners and/or shareholders?; 2) What do we do with the rest?; and 3) How do we spend the rest to increase genuine happiness among our stakeholders?”………

“incorporates everything that a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program would do, plus two important additional components. Firstly, a GNH business not only requires a company to do things better in its relationships with external and internal stakeholders, with their environment and communities – it also requires each individual within a business to become a more evolved human being that can experience and share true and lasting happiness. This means that the key element of GNH that is not normally addressed in CSR programs is a recognition that a transformation is required on an individual level by all the people that make up a business starting from the owners/shareholders to management and general staff.”



The work undertaken by Zhiwa Ling and Yangphel is truly inspiring – fortunately they have also documented their experience in an excellent case study available here.

An Overhaul of the Education System and Focus on Youth
Bhutan is in the third year of a country wide program designed to completely overhaul its education system to ensure the principles and values of community-wide wellbeing i.e., “gross national happiness” are applied. After another international conference that pulled together leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of education, Bhutan defined the kind of citizen they needed as being able to:

• See clearly the interconnected nature of reality
• Understand the full benefits and costs of their actions
• Care deeply for others and their natural world.

When asked in an interview what kind of education he wanted to see ten years later, the Prime Minister responded:

“an education system that is quite different from the conventional factory where specific knowledge and skills are imported to turn out economic animals, thinking only of themselves and working only for themselves. …It would produce graduates who are human beings, that give importance to relationships; students who are eco-literate, analytical in the way they approach issues; people who know their needs and are neither excessive or greedy; who recognize that success is not about the acquisition of wealth but a state of being that comes from giving happiness and well-being to others.”

Since it is the graduates of this education system who will be running Bhutan’s tourism economy in the future, I have every confidence that the country will sustain its position as first Conscious Travel Destination!!

Environmental Care
Bhutan is also committed to maintaining the pristine nature of its natural habitat through careful forestry practices (a permit has to be obtained to cut down a tree and 8 have to be planted in the place of one); 70% of the land area is untouched; and all food production will be organic.

7. Pull not Push: the hallmark of a Conscious Travel Destination is its ability to attract the right customer – the visitor whose values match those of the host. Bhutan isn’t for everybody. Bhutan is for the visitor seeking a unique, and some would say, exotic experience of a vibrant culture expressed in a pristine setting. The Bhutanese appear very comfortable in their own skins; they know who they are and what they value and this comes through in all the media now available to express that identity.

For a country that only got TV and the Internet in 2006, its tourism operators are proving remarkably competent and gifted in digital marketing. 

Because an understanding that all sentient beings are connected and interdependent is an integral to Bhutanese philosophy, the concept of social business or social marketing comes naturally. The Bhutanese tourism community has both the mindset and the social intelligence to operate as a social business and I see no reason why they won’t become leaders in this aspect of tourism management as well.

This post is not meant to imply that all is perfect in Bhutan. The moniker “Shangri-La” will likely do more harm than good. Like many developing countries its population is rising faster than the economy can expand to develop sufficient jobs and unemployment rates among the young are on the increase. Young people are leaving the remote rural villages for the main centre Thimphu leaving the villages and agricultural production to an aging population. The visa/ tariff requirement does not apply to Indian nationals and Indian tour operators are keen to exploit destinations that would appeal to its growing middle class. Even though licenses are required to open a hotel or operate an inbound tour business, their number and capacity currently exceeds current demand so these operations are operating at low levels of occupancy and efficiency. The challenge will be to resist pressure to lower the tariff (institutionalized discounting) or allow construction of attractions and facilities not in keeping with the unique essence of the place.

Given these characteristics, Bhutan is a perfect destination for many “conscious travelers” many of whom are more likely to discover the country through stories about its pursuit of Gross National Happiness than through the traditional wholesaler/retailer channels.

As many of my readers are likely Conscious Travellers, I can thoroughly recommend a vist. So to plan your trip here are some places to start:

Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators

Bhutan Tourism Council

Zhiwa Ling Hotel, Paro

Drukair – the national airline

Conscious Consumerism is Catching On in New Zealand

Is it coincidence or might there be a trend emerging here? In the space of 24 hours, I’ve discovered two mainstream media that are highlighting “conscious consumers” in New Zealand.

1. The bi-monthly money magazine Good which boasts a circulation of 9,341;  over 15,900 unique users per month;  and 2057 active monthly Facebook users  describes itself as follows:

Good inspires women to create a wholesome, healthy life for themselves, their children and future generations. The Good world is luscious, warm, nurturing and authentic.

Good targets ‘conscious consumers’: intelligent, motivated women who want to live lighter and live well. They actively seek information to help them make smarter, healthier and more ethical choices for themselves and their families. They may not consider themselves to be ‘green’; they’ve simply realised they can change the world by changing what they consume.

Good is aimed at the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) demographic, constituting 31% of the population. LOHAS are well-educated, with an average to high income. They are interested in personal development, health, sustainable living and social justice. Over half of Good readers have children, a major driver of health-focused, eco-friendly living.

2. Element – a monthly insert in the New Zealand Herald that “aims to inspire and guide Kiwis to transform New Zealand into the healthiest, most liveable destination on the planet”. The Herald’s newest magazine, which desires to be New Zealand’s largest mass-reach health, sustainable lifestyle and ethical business publication, is focusing on a Conscious Cafe per month.

Source: Element Insert in The New Zealand Herald

The Conscious Cafe Network is the first project of a movement called Conscious Consumers founded by Ben & Fran Gleisner and Melissa Keys. We blogged about this movement back in March of 2011 here.

Cafes and Suppliers to cafes are awarded badges for demonstrating a commitment to environmentally and socially conscious business practices. Thus far the network has been established in Wellington, Auckland and Waikoto with over 70 cafes participating. Thanks to funding recently obtained from the Ministry for the Environment, the network will be expanded to other communities and will be able to promote network members to conscious consumers. Ben and Melissa tell me that they also hope to expand to restaurants and catering establishments next and we hope to join forces to bring the concept of Conscious Consumerism to the travel sector in New Zealand.

Nine Badge Types Awarded Conscious Cafes In New Zealand

Participating cafes can be awarded up to nine badges for various achievements:

1. Allowing customers to bring their own recyclable cup for takeaway coffee

2  Composting organic watse

3. Using eco friendly cleaners

4. Using compostable packaging for their takeaway coffee cups

5. Selling fair-trade coffee

6. Using certified organic cow’s milk

7. Recycling glass, plastic, paper and cans

8. Selling seasonal dishes using local ingredients that are “in season”

9 Using exclusively free range eggs.

It’s early days yet, but this does provide further evidence that a growing number of consumers are becoming awake, aware and alert and suppliers can seize the opportunity to cater to  this market.

Here is Ben Gleisners’ slide deck from Slideshare on the topic

Engaging the conscious consumer (Conscious Consumers)

View more PowerPoint from Squiz New Zealand

Latest Conscious Travel Scoop.it! Out Now

The latest issue of Conscious Travel Scoop.it! is out with a focus on the changing role of business; the growing interest in Bhutan’s Gross Happiness Index and discussions regarding the feasibility of sustained economic growth in a world of finite resources.  Click here to read. Below is an image of the latest front page.

Why Contribute To Responsible Tourism Week?

We’re in the middle of Responsible Tourism Week – a global unconference made possible by the hard work and dedication of Ron Mader and anyone who is committed to sharing ideas related to creating a tourism sector that doesn’t cost the earth. If you want to know how you can contribute, check out Ron’s slideshow here .

Responsible Tourism Week 2012

View more presentations from ron mader

Tweet this link (don’t forget the hashtag #RTWEEK2012) and encourage your friends and colleagues to get involved; join Ron’s wiki, contribute case studies; and, wherever possible travel responsibly. All you have to do is budget some time to draw attention to the need for and benefits of creating travel experiences that maximise the net benefit to host communities.

My contribution today is a reminder why we cannot afford to shirk our responsibilities. Just because Al Gore is no longer taking his slideshow around the world or the IPCC is no longer in the news, and climate change, as a news topic, has become so yesterday,  doesn’t mean that the earth is not warming. In fact, Co2 emissions continue to rise at an accelerating rate. For those of you who like the numbers, they reached 393 parts per million in January 2012 and you can watch the monthly increase here.  (Now, I fully recognize that my European friends might find it quite ironic and unsympathetic of me to write this while they are experiencing another brutally hard winter in Europe – see Europe’s Deep Freeze: Why Climate Change is Not Entirely to Blame. ) One reason for the acceleration might also be the positive feedback loop effect when warming reduces the weight of Arctic ice allowing methane, long trapped beneath the ice, to push through to the surface – see article in methane plumes  here

So here’s the reminder of one reason why we have to use each waking moment to work together to create a less polluting form of tourism if we are to live up to the name and dream of “responsible tourism.”

High Value Tourism: Low Volume Footprints

High Value Tourism: Low Volume Footprints

View more documents from Anna Pollock

TOO BIG TO SAIL?

Via Scoop.it – Conscious Travel

The industrial model demands volume and scale. Consolidation leads to bigness. We’ve seen the folly of letting our banks assume they are too big to fail. Isn’t it time we questioned the wisdom of allowing cruise ships to be built at this scale?

Here are some of the first dramatic images depicting the last moments of the Costa Concordia have been caught on film, showing the stricken liner and lifeboats scattered in the black water.
Via www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Tourism Vancouver Asks The Right Questions

I am confident that all of my readers will agree that asking the right question before starting any strategic exercise is vital at any time but particularly so when the context in which you operate is undergoing profound and radical change.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Albert Einstein

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. Anthony Robbins

Given this belief, you can imagine how pleased I was when the Chair of Tourism Vancouver – Howard Jang, CEO of the highly successful Arts Club Theatre – posed two particularly important questions at their recent Business Plan Launch on Tuesday (Jan 17, 2012). I couldn’t attend because I knew I would be in Auckland, so was able to contribute via video.

The depth of thinking being expressed by Tourism Vancouver is most encouraging so I have re-printed, with permission of course, Howard Jang’s side of the conversation below.

Howard Jang, Chair, Tourism Vancouver

This musing by Jan Myrdal started me thinking about what the “cause” of tourism is really about:

Travelling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind.  Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you never to return.

My own thinking on these topics has been evolving since the AGM and much of it was enabled by a new friend of mine, though an old friend of many in this room.   Anna Pollock is a highly respected Futurist, perhaps though you’ll let me also add the designation of Visionary, as you’ll see.

Following our conversations and my reading of some of her writing, I asked if she’d speak with you today, during this presentation of mine, via video. Stay tuned.   First, let me take up the “cause”.

I’ve long felt that there is more to tourism than making the cash register ring – important and fundamental though that is to our industry’s well-being and to this very organization. Yet there seemed to be values inherent in tourism that are broader, more meaningful, and possibly at the very foundation of a sustainable industry – one that is in the longer term profitable on many fronts. In discussions, I asked Anna, “what she feels is the ‘cause’ of tourism?” and here is how she responded:

Anna’s words both echoed and informed some of my own thoughts, posing fresh views that I wanted to share with you. It’s crucial that our tourism industry engage wide support with the citizens of Metro Vancouver, indeed within British Columbia.   The Team at Tourism Vancouver, are at the forefront of generating demand, attracting visitors, ensuring a business model that works for you, our members.   However, we are also about ensuring that the visitors’ experiences while here are unparalleled, and that when they leave us, they have an ambition to return and a willingness to speak highly to others about our destination.

I once heard this quote:

Once a place becomes special, it’s no longer special  Peter Storey

And then there is the other concept from our AGM.

When I first used the term – a presumptuous declaration of sorts, now that I look back – that the coming years would be Vancouver’s Decade of Culture, I was wearing more than one hat.

Understandably, I was speaking as your new board chair, and also I obviously come from ‘the arts’, from the cultural industries.

True though both those hats are, there was another – it is that of a Vancouver resident.   We call this place home – and that gives us notable privileges, huge opportunities, and a host of responsibilities.    For me, Culture has never been about just the Arts but, rather reflections of our soul.  I wanted to take the “decade of culture” beyond a comforting phrase and give it depth and context.

And, I asked Anna’s thoughts.

Those two clips and my own words are but a part of how we hope to inform, guide and learn with you during today’s presentations.

_____________________

Thanks Howard! – looks like you are already letting your guests define what Culture means to them. I see you have a great Youtube Channel and a number of vignettes on Culture in Vancouver.

Let me end with another quote from my favorite poet, Rainer Rilke,  that applies to all of us

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

 

To see how Vancouver’s community (its residents) rescued its brand – click here