Things never stay the same. Change occurs around us every day. How do we, as tourist attractions, take advantage of the changes around us?
One method that I have used over the years is a creative thinking exercise where I write down a statement of a trend I see or read about. If it is true, what are some of the actions that attractions and DMO’s can take to capitalize on the trend?
Truth be told, my creative juices work better after a glass of wine, but you can still make this a fun activity for your staff or tourism partners!
3 steps to creative thinking
-Write down a sentence or short paragraph about changes you are seeing or create a brief situational analysis.
-Start a list of actions you could take to capitalize on it. I suggest committing to writing down 10 ideas – sometimes the last ones are the best!
– prioritize the list from 1-10 in terms of ability to implement, ability to drive sales and visitation, cost etc.
This is different than looking at trends for the tourism industry specifically because you are looking at cultural and societal trends and then seeing how the tourism industry can be impacted.
Some examples:
Visitors
1. People want their mobile devices with them all the time.
– ask people to post and tag you
– charging stations needed throughout
-Free Wifi is a necessity
– The opposite is to offer ‘connection free’ vacations for people to get away from their phones
2. Rich are getting richer and poor aren’t advancing
– create VIP experiences at higher price point
– create and promote frequent visitor program
-offer discounted admission for local community groups to drive visitation. Offer free or discounted weekends for locals
Guest amenities
3. Mass customization – print on demand
4. Food trucks are popular
5.Beverage tourism
Staffing
6. Side hustles- other jobs outside the 9-5 position. How can tourism destinations capitalize?
7. Working from home or working remotely.
Technology
8. Drones
9. Alexa/ Siri now found in homes
10. Online learning platforms
11. Self-driving cars
Final thoughts
Any of these changes on the list can impact tourism. The successful destinations and attractions will be the ones that see the change coming, and capitalize on it before anyone else.
Can I ask a favor? Can you forward this to at least one colleague who might find my posts helpful? I set a goal to get to 1000 readers by July 1 so I need your help! If you are a DMO, feel free to send this out to your partners and I will be happy to answer any questions they might have.
Is there a tourism industry topic you would like to know more about? Or a question about something in the industry that you don’t quite understand, but you don’t want to ask anyone in case it sounds foolish? Ask me! If you have a question, believe me, that others do as well. Email me at sally@sallydavisberry.com and I will feature the topic in an upcoming post. My passion is helping others be successful in the tourism industry!