By Georges Panayotis
As the future of our country takes shape, there are not so many opportunities to rebound towards a better horizon. If we look carefully, tourism is one of the economic activities that is best able to reconcile the aspirations of a majority of the population, the integration of profitable new economic models and respect for a large share of current concerns.
If the number of international tourists continues to grow steadily despite all adverse events that could slow growth, it is only because the desire to discover the world and to share new experiences is a fundamental part of being human. Replacing crusades with mutual discovery, and colonialist exploration with cultural sharing are among the advances civilization has made that are worthy of congratulations. From an almost aristocratic privilege, travel has become essential to millions, and soon billions of the planet’s inhabitants. It is an area of fantastic experimentation for all businesses in the tourism sector to innovate, develop, invent new practices and new offers. Moreover, tourism in the years to come will join a trend encouraging sharing, tolerance, and environmental respect.
This is not a reason to wait tranquilly, doing nothing, while taking advantage of a market under expansion. The ease of travel and its liberalization go hand in hand with increased competition between businesses and destinations. Former partners squabble and end up cordially detesting one another, persuaded all around that sharing riches built collectively is too unfair. They each end up looking after their own interests, closing themselves into a defense strategy and forgetting the very foundations of how tourism functions. From the initial choice of destination to the final recounting of the trip to one’s entourage, the course of a trip is a series of experiences, both good and bad, that mutually grow stronger in or disappear from the visitor’s memory.
Actors on the new economy have understood this well and are rapidly expanding their range of activity in order to integrate a broader offer, inclusive or à la carte. There is a simple reason for this: to have as much control as possible over the visitor’s full itinerary by offering the simple solution each time, for airport transfers, a night on the town, local discovery, access to attractions, gastronomic sharing … as many “Experiences”, “Trips”, that have already lead to the creation of derived services.
This is the work that receptive agencies, once known as “destinations management companies” (DMC), took on in order to help people discover the charms of a city, through its icons as well as sites off the beaten path. Here again the model exploded, groups-compliant Japanese tourists, amazed Americans or troops of Chinese are living their last days. Today’s tourist, and tomorrow’s even more so, travels alone or with members of his tribe. Choosing and selecting, to facilitate or enrich his personal experience. Happiness is within reach: if I want, when I want, and where I want.
Those destinations that organize better within this new perspective will stand out. Their success, and consequently that of tourism actors, will not come around as a result of individual strategies but rather, of collective marketing, an intelligent alliance of skills, of an original public-private partnership. It will allow Border Police to work in the same direction as hoteliers, allow public transportation to consider their use by tourists, taxis and chauffeured cars to stop insulting one another, and museums and attractions, restaurants and bistros to take a shared complementary approach that treats the tourist like a distinguished visitor and a potential ambassador. A destination needs management, it is neither a utopia nor a Stalinian dream. It is all the stronger when it prides itself on individualism. But one fundamental question remains to be solved, who launches the initiative and who will fly the plane? The answer to this question will already be a measure of success.
