By Clara López, member of the Baud team.
1980. A unique village on the coast of Malaga. Imposing mountains to explore. Coves hidden among plants and rocks that have grown as they have wanted. Narrow streets with plenty of space. Neighbors and visitors of all the life.
2019. The little village of Malaga is getting out of hand. The mountains are crammed with houses and more houses of new construction. The coves are filled with artificial sand and, even so, there is no room for one towel next to the other. Extra visitors walk the streets side by side at a processional pace, and when dawn arrives, there is an open bar of alcohol, messes and wet T-shirts.
Many saw that it was getting out of hand. Many began to put a solution to it. Then came covid-19. And urgent measures must be taken for a sector that represents 12% of our GDP. But future measures must also be considered.
Do we want to use this crisis as an opportunity to improve the quality of our tourism?
If you say yes, I will tell you the 5 keys that I have obtained from different sources. You choose to keep the headlines, read the whole thing or, if you feel like it, reflect and share it with me back. Because the topic goes on for a long time.
First key: safety and comfort
On the one hand, security has always been a flag of tourism, particularly in Spain, with an extensive system of protection, audits, sampling... The system is reinforced in the light of new protocols guided by reference institutions such as the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality, certified by companies such as SGS or Aenor. And the reinforcement is here to stay, just like the security measures for air transport after 9/11.
On the other hand, that security must find the balance of being conveyed in a clear and understandable way, but also pleasant, integrating it into the space and taking care of every detail related to customer comfort throughout their experience. Because, at the end of the day, actors such as hotels, so relevant within the tourism ecosystem, "are our home for a while", in the words of Ramón Adillón, Quality and Environment Coordinator at Paradores, in a talk at the UDIMA.
The classics of Spanish tourism are now reinforced.
Second key: sustainability and technology
Encouraged by reference organizations such as the UNWTO, we speak of the development of sustainable tourism. Respectful, constructive, not overcrowded, not temporary and extended to new territories. Some examples that advance along these lines are the Alhambra or the Cíes Islands.
On the other hand, there is also talk of a reality that we are already hearing in all sectors, "digitize or die", and which materialized harshly in tourism with the recent fall of the British Thomas Cook, the world's second-largest and oldest tour operator. Tourism agents are seeing a particularly accelerated digital transformation in these times and are considering the incorporation of technologies such as online check-in/out, facial biometrics, orders or door openings from cell phones, real-time heat maps...
In this sense, it is vital to establish objectives and define a path in which technology is used as a tool and not as an end in itself. Objectives that in any case guarantee the so-called "service close to the distance" that should prevail even more in a sector such as tourism.
Macrotrends that tourism is also making its own.
Third key: enriching exchange
Overcome the collection of thumbtacks on the world map to achieve more social experiences, going deeper into the culture, caring about people and their spaces, integrating, sharing knowledge and acquiring new ones. Getting the real juice that tourism can give us, as promoted by platforms like Work Away.
A new paradigm defended by intellectuals such as Andrés Jaque, director of the Advanced Architectural Design Program at Columbia University, in an article for National Geographic magazine:
"Travel would cease to delve into a culture of exoticization, cultural colonialism and exploitation to become an activity linked to the maintenance of networks of affection and long-term labor, cultural and citizen activism collaborations."
A new social stage begins.
Fourth key: value and price
In an increasingly complex world, or as some call it, VUCA, a growing majority of the working population is engaged in the exchange of high-value services. This situation further complicates the discussion on 'the price of things'.
We consider a product or service expensive or cheap depending on the value we attribute to it. If it is valuable to us, we will accept a higher price. And we achieve value through quality branding at all levels. These types of brands signify companies, projecting their own mix beyond the sector. But more than that, these types of brands open up new business opportunities, the famous blue oceans where you have the ability to initiate a didactic, develop a value, and establish a price. An example of this is the new bubble rooms under the stars that multiply exponentially the price compared to a traditional room.
A well-constructed brand and model will have the capacity to establish a fair price and adjusted to the value of the business, providing it with the necessary oxygen to work in the direction of quality tourism, sustainable for the locality and its workers and neighbors.
Beyond the classic and the current, one must find one's own.
Fifth key: professionalized resilience
Tourism is one of the most resilient sectors. Traditionally affected by unpredictable circumstances ranging from climate change to the most serious catastrophes, it is accustomed to fluctuations that prevent one year from being the same as another.
The sector must now redefine its resilience, relying on analysis and new tools such as Big Data or Business Intelligence, as well as creativity and vision, to make better decisions in real time. Professional steps that flee from trial and error and ensure maximum survival and growth in an increasingly complex environment.
Being prepared is no good if you don't stay prepared.
Tourism is a sector of great importance for the country and therefore for all of us, it is having a bad time and we must work together to recover it with higher quality. Building together the tourism we want.
A safe, comfortable, sustainable, innovative, social, valuable, resilient and professionalized tourism. A strong tourism that is even capable of pulling high-value industries such as science, education, technology, agriculture and livestock, architecture, telecommunications or energy. As the aerospace or military sector pulled their own industries, contributing later to so many other sectors.
A strong and renewed tourism in favor of a Made In Spain Industry.
Achieved with profound actions by all the actors involved. Because Any successful change depends at the same time on government regulation, good work and communication by companies, and individual responsibility. States and companies are on the move, are we also on the move as individuals? For example, are we willing to travel to Rome without going to the Sistine Chapel, or pay more for a hotel with a home automation system designed by local engineers?
As consultants, we will continue to work for the various stakeholders, helping them to make a difference, create new models and act with professionalism and resilience, overcoming together, with the strength and courage we have always shown, this and any other challenge that may come our way.
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