If we build it they will come! ...right?

This week we learned many many many things about our industry, the amount of information (and how much Rachael was able to put on 2 powerpoints) is overwhelming! But we've highlighted a few things that we found very interesting for you.

The Paradox of Tourism
The success of the tourism industry can support nature and culture by restoring and preserving destinations (yay!) - BUT at the same time it is this success that deteriorates the aspects that make it successful! How do we continue to sell and promote what we are damaging by doing so? This is the paradox of tourism.

Refocusing Tourism
Remember our definition of sustainable tourism in the previous post? Now let's look at what sustainable tourism means in the context of what our current needs are today.

Butler (1993) says sustainable tourism is:
- "Tourism which is developed and maintained in an area (community, environment)
- In such a scale that it remains viable over an indefinite period 
- Does not degrade or alter the environment (human and physical) to the degree that it prohibits successful development and well being of other activities and programs”

There is a saying in the industry: "if we build it they will come".
...Will they really?
...
Nooooooooooooo! If you build it they will not come. You need to do more than that. Consumers today are buying the idea of the experience. There is a changing nature of what consumers are looking for - they're looking for impact!

Butler's Tourism Life Cycle

Note: Number of Tourists in other words is growth.

The purpose of this graph is not to make you go "omg what's that it looks so complicated" no no I reassure you, this blog is less complex and for the less informed. But the purpose of this graph is to show a point. This graph is the life cycle of tourism (duh self-explanatory in the name) - where do you think businesses start to look at sustainability? If you guessed stagnation you are correct! The reality is we as people are reactive more than we are proactive - we do things only after the fact. Wouldn't it be better for the 3 pillars of sustainability (as mentioned in the previous post) if sustainability was considered in the beginning stages of the cycle? Wouldn't it make so much more sense?

Final words
Everyone looks at Canada and sees us as a great place to live in. We're a developed nation, we believe in democracy and individual rights are important to us etc etc so when Rachael showed us this blog about her friend's trip to Northwestern Ontario we were quite surprised at what we saw. It is surprising to see in our own backyards the third world conditions that some of our friends in the Northwest live in, check out the blog:

http://smallpondarts.blogspot.com/2011/01/return-from-pikangikum.html

We leave you with this and it not necessarily related to the rest of the post but we want you readers to think about the world around you and to recognize the realities of this place we live in.

(Dodds R, Sustainable Tourism Development, February 17, 2011)