By Dr. Peter Tarlow
It is not an exaggeration to state that the twenty-first century’s third decade has been one of challenges both for the tourism industry and for nations around the world. Security and safety issues, mixed with issues around energy, ecology, and sustainability have and will continue to play major roles in in the development of travel and tourism. These challenges do not pertain solely to the tourism and travel industry. The travel and tourism industries, however, are to a great extent dependent on disposable income. For example, when nations around the world face difficult economic hurdles these economic problems disproportionality impact travel and tourism, not only on the leisure side but even from the perspective of the business traveler. The same is true regarding issues of safety and security.
It is not unfair to state that when world economies catch a cold, travel and tourism often catch pneumonia. Also due to the rise of electronic and virtual meetings in the post-pandemic world, business travel is one of the first items to be cut from a business’ budget. Tourism and Travel also must face additional hurdles. For example, the graying of much of the world’s travel public means new and innovative types of products will need to be marketed. On the positive side, terrorism has not dealt a fatal blow to international tourism but both issues of crime and terrorism require additional precautions, training, and improved customer service. The issues of biosecurity (health security) in this post-pandemic world are another constant that the industry dares not to ignore.
How the travel and tourism industry reacts to these ongoing challenges is more than a business issue; these are also ethical issues. Smart tourism businesses should not only pay attention to the commercial side of tourism but also to the ethical challenges that face the industry.
To help you deal with some of the ethical issues in the travel and tourism world here is a partial list of suggestions:
-When in doubt, the ethical thing to do is the best thing to do. Don’t cut corners because times are hard. This is the time to build a reputation for integrity by doing the right thing. Make sure to give customers their money’s worth rather than appearing to be selfish and greedy. The hospitality business is about doing for others, and nothing advertises a place better than giving that something extra in a period of economic constriction. In a like manner, managers should never cut their underling’s salaries before they cut their own. If a reduction in forces is necessary, a manager should personally handle the situation, present a good-bye token and never be absent on the day of a lay-off.
-When the going gets rough, be calm. People come to us for tranquility and to forget their problems, not to learn about our problems. Our guests should never be burdened with our economic difficulties. Remember they are our guests and not our counselors. Tourism ethics requires that your personal life stay in your home. If you are too agitated to work, then stay home. Once one is at the workplace, however, we have a moral responsibility to concentrate on the needs of our guests and not on our own needs. The best way to be calm in a crisis is to be prepared. For example, every community needs to have a tourism security plan. In a like manner, your community or attraction needs to train employees on how to handle health risks, travel changes, and personal security issues.
-Develop a good esprit de corps for your entire team. The COVID pandemic’s challenges of the last few years are a good time for tourism managers to tell their employees how much they care. A manager should never ask an employee to do what s/he would not do, in fact, good managers at least twice a year, a good manager should get out of his/her office and do what his/her employees actually do. There is only one way to understand the problems that employees have when at work and that is by participating actively in their jobs and experiencing their frustrations.
-Never have unreasonable expectations for your employees, and at the same time be truthful with your customers. If the expectations are too low they will result in boredom and ennui, if the expectations are too high, they result in frustration and cover-ups. Both sets of expectations are unreasonable and lead to moral dilemmas. Remember that once customers lose confidence in your locale, product, and/or business ethics, recovery is both difficult and expensive.
-Develop tourism partnerships. Visitors come to a “composite location” and not to a specific place. The tourism experience is a composite of multiple industries, events, and experiences. These include the transportation industry, the lodging industry, the locale’s competing attractions, the locale’s food offerings, its entertainment industry, the feeling of security we provide and the visitor’s interactions with both the local population and employees within the tourism industry Each one of these sub-components represents a potential alliance. In the twenty-first century, no one component can survive on its own. Instead, it is essential that a locale’s tourism industry define its common goals with each of these tourism sub-industries and know where flash-points may exist. Address these issues openly and develop the areas of commonality.
Move beyond employee evaluations. Tourism professionals should not be seen as elementary school disciplinarians, but rather as partners seeking common goals. Tourism managers should work with their employees on performance goals. When employees begin to see a gap between what a manager says and does, then a certain level of dishonesty begins to creep into the relationship. Concentrate on what the employee and you can do to partner toward a common goal.
-Hear what your employees and customers are saying. Often problems can be solved by listening fairly. In a like manner, honesty and open relationships are usually the best policy. Nothing destroys a tourism business as much as a lack of credibility. Most guests/customers understand that things do go wrong from time to time. In those cases, admit there is a problem, own it, and deal with the problem. Most people can see through double-talk and in the future will not believe your company even when you are telling the truth. Remember that credibility means believably but not necessarily honesty. Don’t just be credible, be honest!
Never stifle innovation. It is all too easy to put someone down or dismiss an idea out of hand. When people share ideas, they are taking a risk. Travel is in its essence about taking risks and so travel professionals who are afraid of risks usually do no more than an adequate job. Encourage travel and tourism employees to take innovative risks, many of their ideas may fail, but one good idea is worth many failed ideas.
