Tourism today depends on reliable, professional and inclusive governance
This week I was unimpressed by the situation across the Islands concerning the lack of planning in infrastructure (principally the roads); the increase in traffic and pollution; the degradation of the traditional and characteristic landscape with unsightly buildings and faceless concrete blocks of apartments, and the disregard by the authorities to people’s concern at the apathy and lack of professional governance being demonstrated at the highest levels … this is definitely no way to attract tourism (at least not the type of quality tourism we wish to attract).
There is a serious and urgent need to develop a more integrated approach to the management of tourism on these Islands, a need to be reliable, professional and inclusive.
Tourism is not an activity that is simply measured in numbers today, but is measured in qualities and sustainability. But it also depends on how the destination is managed – is it attractive, does it give the visitor the real value in terms of experience and money; does it present a unique venue, or is it still part of the mass tourism destinations where the Joe Bloggs or Hans Fritz would come to lie in the sun and swim in the pool, or get drunk on the local cheap plonk and the pseudo local dishes made up of imported, and not local produce?
Over the years tourism has changed, where it has become more of an individual rather than a mass activity, with the growth of low cost carriers, digital tourism and diverse destinations. It will be difficult to persuade tourists to visit a destination simply by lowering the prices or offering cheap packages. People are looking for quality – at least the tourists that matter, who want to be at the destination. The ones who are coming here are clueless and care little about where they go, as long as it is cheap and in the sun!
We cannot build a reliable, professional and inclusive system of managing tourism if we do not make a stand, as a local community, to ensure that the principles of sustainability and good governance are understood and implemented by all – we need to take an example of the action we need to take from the Canary Islands, Barcelona and Venice if we want to get out of the mess we are in today. Here are my six suggestions for us all to follow in order to turn these Islands into the tourism destination it should be :
1. The management of tourism means that the authorities and community must agree on two critical factors – to want a quality tourism based on commitment, trust and synergy, and to make this happen through continuous and consistent consultation.
2. A business community that should understand that character, culture and landscape are important features for quality tourism and that, no, the Islands are not better looking in the last decade than they were before this time, as some misguided developer stated recently.
3. The authorities must forget about serving their political masters who are short termists, and who are simply interested in their own political, financial and egocentric gain rather than the national interest.
4. The visitor must be responsible for the sustainable principles at a destination as much as the local resident.
5. Quantities are not the solution to a successful tourism activity – the “carrying capacity” devised through a study a year ago putting tourism figures at 4.6 million a year are definitely not in the national interest. They are calculated in the interests of the unscrupulous business person who is interested in “bums on seats” rather than tourism. Carrying capacities have to be carefully calculated by studying the balance between resources and visitor services that impact on the quality of life for the local community.
6. Finally, as I sit here writing this article I can hear the heavy traffic on the road outside my office. This is not only increasing the pollution, but it is destroying the very fabric of the Islands from that quiet retreat where visitors used to come to get away from the stress of busy cities and development, now visitors can feel at home, because we are providing them with the environment and experience of that home that they wanted to get away from.
Tourism must be seen as that fire that cooks your food or burns the house down. Under these governance terms we are heading for the second option, and very soon we will experience the demise of the activity altogether. Change must happen now and quickly – we need a better governance, reliability and interactive process to manage tourism.
By following these six stages, we can ensure that these Islands are managed professionally, sustainably and with the idea of developing a quality activity that attracts the visitor who wants to be here.
Travel and Tourism to these islands today is about quantitative gains for the greedy and uncouth. We need to put professionalism and hospitality back in the equation.