I see things changing around me. I have just begun to follow (use your RSS Feed button to follow your favorite blogs) a very good online publication called Apesphere. In their words, “ We launched APEsphere on 20thJanuary 2009, the inauguration day of a US president elected on the promise of Change. We chose this day because we are a news organization devoted to bringing about change. The place of business in society needs to change. Profits can no longer come before people or planet. Of course this isn’t simply a change; it’s a sea-change, requiring the commitment of governments, NGOs, businesses, the media, and individuals. APEsphere will contribute through original reporting (by pro and citizen journalists), sharing of news reported elsewhere, as well as opinion, expert analysis, and dialogue. Welcome to APEsphere, and the path to a new capitalism.” - Andrew Newton, Editor-in-Chief
I am very much enjoying their online news. MadameApe is a prolific free-lance writer and blogger living in Paris and brings to life some pretty amazing stories about environment, travel experiences, and many other quirky things. Today, she posted an article called India Homestays: People are at the heart of this. How true.
Recently, we had 16 tourism operators from Atlantic Canada spend a week of professional development in the province of Manitoba with Earth Rhythms, learning about experiential tourism by taking part in unique experiences – tasting mead with a local honey producer, listening to stories of Hutterite culture and having a traditional Hutterite meal, learning Ukrainian dancing with instructors and live Ukrainian music, carving 3 metre snow blocks with international snow carvers at Festival du Voyageur, and many other memorable experiences. As one participant noted, “It’s the people that make the experience.” Indeed, if there is one thing that we have learned, it would be that an experience in “experiential tourism” (commercially available tourism experiences that offer learning in an authentic manner resulting in high memorability) will always have “an authentic experience provider” – a real person at the heart of it. That’s the key principle in wealth development offered by sustainable or responsible or authentic tourism. That local people will derive wealth from the interactive learning process by which travelers engage, touch, smell, taste, try, and participate. This wealth (the price of the experience) helps to sustain traditions, cultures, local food production and many other things. As we make shifts into the new low carbon economy, it’s my feeling that experiential tourism will begin to truly show its colours as one of the most powerful ways to travel, to get in touch with the planet – through the power of people. As MadamApe says, “ Why do we travel? There are entire books devoted to answering the question. One of the answers, ‘to meet new people and see different cultures,’ would be well-served by a homestay in one of India’s thousands of small villages.” I am glad that the Canadian Tourism Commission is focusing on the power of experience as the core of marketing Canada to the world. Their research on travel values (Explorer Quotient) suggests that people do travel to see new people and see different cultures, as Authentic Experiencers, as Cultural Explorers, or as Culture History Buffs. Why not take your Explorer Quotient and see what your Travel Values are? Once you learn your EQ, then you can start to modify your tourism offerings to meet the needs of your ideal guests.
