I think it was Michele McKenzie who said at Online Revealed Canada that people in the tourism industry should realize they’re in the business of making memories first and putting heads to beds second. I agree.

If you haven’t seen Simon Sinek’s TED video below, you really should. His book is a worth a read as well.

Simon’s hypothesis is simple. Businesses communicate wrong. They communicate WHAT they do, then HOW they do it. Instead they should communicate WHY they do things, then HOW they do it, then WHAT they do. When you inspire people about WHY you do things, the how and what makes more sense.

At Think! we believe we can make people’s lives better by making tourism experiences better, one destination or product at a time. We do this by working with DMO’s and tourism product operators, helping them create remarkable products and market them to the niche audiences that truly love them. We have a methodology and we offer strategic development, training, products and delivery services to achieve this.

Why should somebody visit your destination or business? Don’t tell me because you have the best food, the best golf, best art scene or the cleanest rooms. That’s WHAT you do. And everybody else claims the same thing.

Disney themeparks are in the business of making “magical” memories for families. Vegas is in the business of making memories that “stay in Vegas” to anybody but families. They both know their WHY and so does everybody who works there, and their customers who visit know it as well.

What’s your WHY?

artwork by Hugh MacLeod

Interesting post from Fred Wilson, a VC and principal of Union Square Ventures about advertising (he calls it marketing).

This quote stands out:

I’ve often thought that advertising is what you do when a product is either mediocre or commoditized. If customers don’t love your product, give you repeat business and tell their friends, you’ll have to do the talking yourself through paid media. Big brands like Google, Facebook, Zara, Starbucks and Zappos though demonstrate that you can build large successful brands without much advertising.

The thing I could never reconcile in mind were the ads ran by companies like Apple. They have a cult following and products people love and rave about. Why bother with spending anything on paid media? The second part of Fred’s quote is brilliant and makes sense. Advertising can rally your base and pull people of the line.

I’m not claiming advertising doesn’t work. I’m sure that the amount of sham-wows, slap shops and collectable plates sold as a result of their TV Ads makes the producer a profit. But that doesn’t mean its a good product.

A good product sells itself. Don’t fix a mediocre product with advertising, fix the product instead.

Interesting list of things to watch in 2011 from JWT. Many trends relate to travel, tourism and hospitality. Here’s my highlights to pay attention to and why.

People might be sceptical about Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places. But checkin-in services aren’t going away and services will become more intelligent, more meaningful and more relevant to people as innovators finds the sweet spot. And it’s a natural for travel and tourism.

Microbreweries have been hot in BC for a while and new restaurants and pubs offer selections of beers from around the world. This niche is turning mainstream and offering a great selection of beers might just be a great differentiator for your restaurant or pub.

Most DMO’s are still producing paper guides (don’t get me started). Many offer the option to download an electronic version to reduce production and shipping costs while minimizing environmental impact. Most DMO’s create an exact (PDF-like) copy of the paper version. But that’s missing the point. Offering an electronic format requires re-thinking the existing model for this kind of content delivery.

People are more socially and environmentally aware and the choices they make as consumers are starting to reflect this more and more. Brands are clueing in. Pepsi’s refresh project is a great example. The travel and tourism industry needs to become a lot more mindful of this. Voluntourism is one way of  doing this. Tribes wanted is a good example and so is Abraham’s Path.

The next economic driver might very well be the green economy as innovators across the world are looking for solutions to global warming. People’s expectations for products and services will change. If not careful, traveling could become a frowned upon activity because of its environmental impact. It doesn’t have to be this way though but the travel and tourism industry needs to take this trend seriously. It takes leadership. Resort town Whistler for example is leading the local industry in realizing their sustainability vision.

Food is a very important part of a tourism experience. People talk about the weather, the food and how friendly the people were when they come home. A celebrity chef restaurant can be a reason to visit a destination.

This is the stuff I have nightmares about but some people’s definition of ‘getting away from it all’ is to disconnected all devices. As a tourism operator, you need to find your niche and this could very well be yours.

Another example of finding your niche.

As the internet and social network allow people to connect with people in passionate communities, they want to meet in person. The opportunity lies tourism and hospitality businesses is to find relevant communities and offer them the chance to connect in person, from foursquare swarm badge parties to geek cruises.

Needs no explanation.

There are a multitude of people traveling the globe and broadcasting their adventures to their communities. This is the new travel media. I remember suggesting inviting “Where the hell is Matt” to create a video in every community in BC. Never happened unfortunately and I still can’t believe no DMO ever has.

One of the break-through trends of 2010 and a hot topic during DMAI even though it’s old news in Japan. A QR code is in essence nothing more than an easy way to direct a user to a URL/app. But directing people to information is just the beginning. We need more imagination, like these Buddhist munks, Adidas or CASA.

This one is a bit more abstract. It can refer to physical objects as the center of a social interaction. A hotel review on Tripadvisor for example. It can also used as a virtual object used socially in an online environment. Sending someone a virtual gift on Facebook for example. It’s easy to do and the thought that matters, and that’s why they work. <plug>By the way, Think! licences a Facebook gift app for DMO’s and tourism businesses</plug>.

Will there be a galaxy DMO?

Tourism is all about stories. Tourism operators don’t sell a product, they sell a story, a memory. And a story needs a plot, a beginning, a middle and an end. You can design the story and the process is called service design. Companies like Disney go as far as creating a detailed backstory for everything in their themeparks, creating the perfect story for a guest to join in. What’s the story your guests joins?

William Ury is a professional negotiator has been involved in resolving some of the toughest conflicts.

In his TEDx presentation he poses a solution to the Middle East conflict. Ury and his team created Abraham’s Path, a route of walking and cultural tourism which follows the footsteps of Abraham or Ibrahim through the Middle East.

Never though tourism could be the solution for a problem as big as that.

Every year I use the ‘quite time’ around the holidays to have a look at what other DMO’s around the world are doing. I love poking around to see what I can learn. I’m thinking of creating a giant presentation with my findings (let me know if you’re interested).

One of the things I’m looking at is what DMO’s are doing to incorporate real time information. This is a trend DMO’s can’t ignore. Brochureware websites are no longer acceptable and consumers expect content that is timely as well.

Florida has created a Florida Live section on their website. The page includes their Twitter feed, Flickr photo’s, YouTube videos etc. It also includes a Google Map with the Twitter feeds from local DMO’s, live webcams, YouTube videos and Fishing Reports.

The fishing reports are very cool. Every day the captains call in from their boats to give an update of the fishing conditions of their area. Users can listen to each captain reporting on the conditions.

Incorporating expert content from industry members or residents is something I’ve been pitching for a long time now. Most DMO’s do this with expert bloggers (some better than others). This is a very creative idea to make it timely, relevant and credible.

Great idea, good content, good execution. I love it.

Do you have examples of ‘live information’ incorporated into DMO or other tourism websites?

Interesting post from Jeremiah Owyang today about his research findings that Social Media Boutiques are Winning Deals Over Traditional Digital Agencies. And although I think the line between traditional, digital and social media agencies is a lot more blurred than the post suggests, it’s an interesting read.

Jeremiah’s research concludes that especially the clients who are more advanced in social media leave traditional agencies for boutique agencies for the following reasons:

Listening to your users? Absolutely. But giving a sh*t about your users is way better. –Gary Vaynerchuk (Web 2.0 Expo, 2008)

A couple of weeks ago, I cancelled a flight from Innsbruck to Vienna with Austrian Airlines. It was a connecting flight to Amsterdam. Because I took the train to Vienna a couple days earlier to meet up with my friends Martin and Olaf, I didn’t need the flight to Vienna anymore but I still needed my flight from Vienna to Amsterdam.

Austrian Airlines charged me $250 to cancel the first leg and keep everything else the same.

They were legally in their right but it goes against all common sense. Charge me a $25 or $50 admin fee? Sure. It took 10 minutes over the phone to make the change. Instead they charged me the maximum penalty. Because they could.

The person on the phone was very understanding. So was the person in the customer service department I emailed to complain. But the standard form letter was clear.

Austrian Airlines listens. But they don’t give a shit. That’s not a winning business model.

When we were on vacation in Ireland a few years ago we went to kiss the Blarney Stone of course. When I was trying to find out what the stone is about, why people kiss it and when it all started it turned out there are all kinds of legends but no real definitive answer. The only reason why people kiss the stone seems to be because everybody else does it.

We also went to this festival called Puck Fair, where a little town parties for a whole weekend. They catch a wild goat (the puck), get it crowned as king by a young girl and hoist it on top of the main stage for the duration of the event. Why? Nobody is really sure. But the town is packed.

In Rome, people throw about 3000 euros a day in the Trevi fountain. In Prague, people rub the Statue of St John Nepomuk.

People are social and people want to be part of a story. For a tourism business or DMO, traditions can be remarkable experiences that put people in the story of your destination. People will go out their way not to miss them.

What traditions and folklore does your destination have people can be part of?

It doesn’t have to be steeped in history either. It can be as simple as nailing a pair of shoes to a tree. Next thing you know it’s a tradition, everybody is doing it and you have a tourist attraction like in Prince Rupert, BC.

Google added a new feature to Gmail recently called priority inbox and Facebook today announced something similar with their social inbox. Google and Facebook are using algorithms to predict the messages you really care about from the ones you don’t and put them in different folders for you. You can further refine this yourself of course.

So what?

I’ve been using this feature in Gmail a lot. I love it. Because it separates the few emails I really need to respond to from the ones I don’t. The emails that don’t make the priority list include all enewsletters I’ve signed up for. I scan the non-priority emails once or twice a day to make sure there’s nothing important in there.

The implications for direct markers are that this feature is another barrier between your email message and a consumer’s attention. It’s not just about getting permission anymore, you better make the priority list as well.

Keep an eye on your open rates for gmail (and soon Facebook) users. Are they dropping below average? This means these features might be impacting your marketing and you should re-think your strategy. The key is to be relevant in the content you serve and in the frequency of communication, or people will ignore you.