Congratulations to the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism for securing federal funding from ACOA and Parks Canada to continue its excellent training and development function within the Atlantic Canada Tourism industry!  Makes celebrating Canada Day tomorrow all the more meaningful!

Hats off to all of those involved as volunteers, educators, suppliers, hosts and most importantly industry participants who have contributed to this success!

From your friends: Nancy, Celes and Todd.

A tweet and you may miss it, a Facebook post and you may forget to see it, send an email and you by by-pass it!  So what is a busy executive to do when he/she was raised and educated in an era when social media did not exist, you remember carrying a ‘box of punched cards’ to the computer room down the hall and then returning the next day to get your results!  Indeed the access to, and speed of information is on a racetrack to destinies unknown and you may be feeling a little ‘out of shape’ or not even sure where to start in a meaningful way — after all you are the boss, the owner, the General Manager.

Take a quick read at this great blogpost that came out  titled “Top 5 Social Media Tips for C-Suite Execs”.  If you don’t know what a C-suite exec is, that’s okay, they may not know how to tweet!  In summary they provide 5 tips, but I have a few more to frame your thinking.

1. First, accept social media is here to stay, will continue to evolve faster than you can catch on unless you are committed to perpetual learning.

2.  Second, appreciate like old fashion communications (TV, radio, print) you only need to invest-in and commit to those that are relevant to your target market.

3. Thirdly, social media represents a new opportunity to connect, listen and learn about your customer. If you are a manager who believe this is a priority – then you need to carve time out to engage. If you are an executive who ‘has people to do this’ then ensure your policies and practices support it, and ensure you high the right skills onto the team  – communicators and relationship builders — and allow them hassle free time on the job to do just that!

So what are the 5 tips – and note the common thread — PEOPLE!!!!

1. Go where the people are;    2. Invest in people;   3.  Be a subject matter expert;  4. Make it personal ;  5. Dont’ forget ‘internal social media’

Enjoy transforming your people and communictions!

Yes, stepping out of the realm of our traditional Tourism Cafe posts to encourage you to watch this CBS video on identity theft related to photocopiers.  If you own or use a photocopier and it was purchased since 2002, it has a data memory. Worth a listen, and then check your own equipment – owned or leased — when you are disposing of it.

For years there has been a market opportunity for getaways of 2 to 4 days for busy people who can’t commit the time to a major vacation. According to a recent review in the Sydney Herald, it appears this trend is continuing and is supported by major travel trade players and smaller companies, all taking advantage of this new market!

What are you doing to strategically capture this growing market?  Do you have a solution – an invitation for people who want an enticing experience to get away? If not, think about how you can collaborate to compete and start crafting an exciting memorable weekend.  Here’s a few ideas reported that caught my attention.

• Intrepid Traveller is investing in a new product line for 2 to 5 day getaway experiences “Urban adventure tours”
• Luxury operator Abercrombie and Kent are targeting mini trips with two elements ‘luxury experience and relaxation’
• “Paddle and Pamper”  what a great title!  An Aussie kayak adventure that comes complete with a ‘ripple massage’

These are great ideas that we can use to kick start some niche thinking and product innovation!

As a quick follow-up to my earlier blog “Listening – A great market research tool’  I just came across a very interesting audio clip on ‘the importance of listening’ by Tom Peters, one of the most  renown management professors in the world and author of 14 books including: the blockbuster Pursuit of Excellence (1982),  The Pursuit of Wow (1994),  Re-imagine! Business excellence in a Disruptive Age (2003), and his newest The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence (2010).

Using a medical analogy about the importance of a doctor listening to a patient as a primary source of information, he affirms the importance of listening. Alas, the reality he says, is that most managers only listen for 18 seconds – yes, 18 seconds, then jump into solutions.  The single strength of an organization is not the strategic plan, but is strategic listening to customers, vendors and staff.  It is a skill that can be learned and improved.

So are you an 18 second manager?  If so perhaps a focus on your listening skills would be a valuable investment in your people, customers, and your business!

Mike Myatt just posted an article titled 8 traits of Ineffective Leaders that caught my eye. I am sure everyone can identify a lousy leader in their life  be it their boss, their politician, or a well-intended volunteer on a committee.  Mike details the 8 signs which are:

1. Poor character

2.  Little or no track record

3.  Poor communication skills

4. Self-serving in nature

5. One-size fits all leadership

6.  Lack of focus and follow-up

7. Not looking forward … and my personal favorite

8. Not being customer focused!

If you are in an environment where the leadership is lacking, or perceived to be lacking think about which of these elements you could have a positive impact on and try to influence change. Certainly some are not really possible such as #1 and #2 for these poor leaders probably like who they are and don’t see /or choose to ignore their leadership flaws.  If you are a good communicator however, you can try to ‘demonstrate’ good conversational skills and methods in meetings; you could bring forward examples of how responsive flexible leadership is a sign of strength, not weakness, and you can lead by example with your area of responsibility in being forward thinking, customer focused and lead by example yourself.  Complaining has little effect and in fact can damage your credibility, working to invoke positive change management and staying true to your values is the way to go.  Thanks Mike for you blogpost – a great reminder of things to think about.

Should hotels charge for Internet in their rooms?  Should airlines charge to check your luggage – when travel by its very nature necessitates taking something to carry your stuff in!  Should you have to pay to redeem your frequent flyer points — you gave them your business, now you get charged for your loyalty to access the freebees!

In a recent article titled “Avoiding 10 worst travel rip-offs” they spoke about these three and seven more. The bottom line – if companies charge you for these services — do business elsewhere!  And you can. As an avid business and personal traveller who spends lots of time on the road every year, these fees impact my decision making and I do look elsewhere.

It is difficult for companies struggling to increase profitability in these challenging economic times, but I wonder if they have, or regularly, look at the cost-benefit-analysis on the customer experience/loyalty of these decisions. When you add that $14.95 internet charge per day, or the $25 per piece of luggage how many customers is it costing you?  If you don’t know, you may want to stop and think about this relative to the competition.

Customer loyalty programs are a dime a dozen, and more and more campaigns are now looking to the ‘immediacy’ and ‘no strings attached’ R.O.L. (return on loyalty) for redemption.  At the end of the day, the customer will make the decision – is your company ready for it.

If you are charging ancillary fees, you may be thinking with an expense mentality. “If I charge more, I cover my costs, make more money, I am more profitable ” … but what about the customer who is not happy with the fees and all those that you have lost.  Instead, what if you thought about the full customer lifecycle, your competitive positioning, and said “If I have to incur these costs, how can I make them an investment and get a positive return?”  This is a shift in thinking and one that could benefit your customers – hence your company today!  Time to look in the mirror.  The customer is changing – so must we.

Jonathan Foster is the executive director of The Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism. Celes Davar interviews Jonathan just before the 21st edition of The Edge of the Wedge, in Gros Morne National Park. He is sitting at the Lobster Cove Lighthouse, overlooking the entrance to Bonne Bay.

Training and professional development opportunities can be a valuable investment. Jonathan shares some of the benefits and results of the training for tourism operators, from taking part in The Edge of the Wedge, Canada’s leading training program about experiential tourism.

As tourism operators, we often are not equipped with the tools that help us to understand how sustainable our businesses are, pr how to measure sustainability and where to look for shining examples of sustainability.

I have a really great suggestions for you, if you would like to be a leader and position your company as a leader in sustainability.  Dave Butler, Director of Sustainability at Canadian Mountain Holidays has just released their most recent report on corporate sustainability, in their 2009-2010 overview and report entitled Moving Towards Sustainability.  Using Global Reporting Indicators (GRI’s), they summarize their vision and how they are measuring their progress using GRI’s.  Companies such as Apple, Coca Cola and Unilever are using these standards.  However, very few tourism companies appear to be using them.

I would like to invite you to go to their website Stewardship at Canadian Mountain Holidays and take a deep breath before plunging into exploring a very simple and succinct summary of CMH’s bold vision - to be the leading sustainable tourism company in North America. Their commitment to tourism transparency is evident.  You will find their vision, their recent sustainability reports (available for download), and a summary of their Second Nature program. Download either their Overview or the complete report for 2009 – 2010.

Hats off to you Dave and the entire team at CMH!  Canada leads the way through such innovations in engaging sustainability as a core component of tourism.

If you are in the tourism industry you know the importance of storytelling to a great guest experience.  Increasing the visitor experience means perfecting this aspect your ‘business to consumer’ (B2C) relations.

What about your B2B ‘business to business’ corporate storytelling capability — the one that builds fans, interest, followers and partners wanting to collaborate or align with you on a different level?  If you are looking to learn from the best, then Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple should be your idol. In the new book by Carmine Gallo title “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience” his three-part framework on how to ‘wow audiences’ is shared:  (1) Create the Story  (2) Deliver the Experience  (3) Refine and Rehearse.  This book is so ‘hot-off-the-press’ it’s copyright is 2010!  If you give a lot of presentations to business, to your guests, at conferences, or within your community, this is a definite must.

If you just want a taster however — “The 10 Ways to Sell you Ideas the Steve Jobs Way” was just posted as a free download by GoToMeeting.  Talk about a clever way to build a data base for your own business by aligning with the best!

Thanks Celes for bringing this to my attention and living our mantra “Collaborate to Compete” which also happens to be a great book by Logan and Stokes if anyone is interested. Together “We” is always stronger, and more rewarding than “Me”.