Tourism Development in the 21st
Century –
Destructive Place Taking vs Authentic
Place Making
People love to visit
new places and to learn about distant
cultures. Travelers seek authentic
places - “real places” that are not
contrived, but that offer experiences
specific and unique to that place. From
sunny beach to ancient ruin, visitors
search for that distinctive place to
feed their wanderlust.
Deliberate Stewardship
For the past 60
years tourism has shown explosive growth
worldwide. The United Nations World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) informs us
that there were 880 million
international visitor arrivals in 2009
and that some 946 billion dollars were
spent along the way. Compare that to the
25 million international arrivals in
1950!
Now consider that
UNWTO expects 3% to 4% growth in 2010,
and a continual rise into the
foreseeable future, boosted in part by a
techno-savvy world population that is
almost entirely connected to the
Internet. Note, too, that at least one
person in ten works in the tourism
system, making tourism the largest, or
nearly largest, financial contributor to
most nations. Clearly, tourism is a
force to be examined and understood
before it can be sustainably developed
and appreciated.
With these known
conditions, let’s consider how we
tourism developers have been doing our
jobs. Will our existing methods peddle
away our community's future? Or will we
take on the stewardship required to
sustain the places we love. Is tourism a
Place-Taker or Place-Maker? We must make
a considered choice.
Comprehending the Good
How are we doing in
examining and understanding what is
good? Do we consider what harm there may
be in bringing tourism for its own sake
into the community? Are we establishing
roots and nourishing integral community
growth? Are we prepared to answer these
questions and act on them?
At one time,
promotion and advertising were all a
community needed to attract visitors,
done by either by local destination
management organizations or by
individual attractions themselves.
Tourism success was (and still is)
judged by how many visitors came and how
much cash they left in the till.
Some communities
even warped themselves to meet (or
create) visitor desires and to make jobs
and increase local revenues.
Neighborhoods were forgotten in the rush
to “develop” the local economy. Their
organic social, recreational, cultural
and business ties eroded or disappeared.
Their places were taken away. Tourism
activities must, and can, create lively,
robust neighborhoods. To do otherwise is
mere peddling. It is Place Taking
instead of Place Making.
Making the Grade
Tourism higher
education came into being in the early
1970's. It studies the subject as a
science. Common thought was that
promotion and marketing would attract
visitors for economic gain. Initial
courses placed emphasis on these
subjects, along with management, travel
and hospitality. Missing were courses in
tourism planning and development.
Tourism students
today must study and understand
land-use, community planning and
sustainability. They must examine that
tourism unfettered can leave a community
"in a pickle" with traffic congestion,
unauthentic improvements, pollution and
faceless development. And once a
community becomes a pickle it can not go
back to being a cucumber. To avoid
putting communities at risk, we must
teach prospective tourism professionals
new fundamental principles.
The tourism
professionals of the future cannot
simply promote a place until it becomes
a destination. They must seek to partner
with its residents, businesses,
government and agencies. They must be
taught that tourism development requires
objective guidance and that the true
bottom-line of well managed tourism is
integrated place-making based on the
authenticity and values of the
community.
Putting Theories to the Test
It is past time to
find new ways for communities to become
great places to live, to work and to
visit. New theories suggest that the
residents should benefit first and most
from tourism development; a result
obtained when we first preserve and
protect and then promote our places.
Theories are
emerging that communities are eager to
test. Some apply the principles of
“whole community planning.” As
articulated by Kip Bergstrom, founder of
Re-inventing Stamford (CT), whole
communities are full of life and are
“hospitable, authentic and distinctive.”
Such communities empower and engage
residents. They are water and energy
efficient, and disaster resilient. This
definition reveals a shift to the new
paradigm of tourism development as place
making.
The theory of
Geotourism, authored by Jonathan
Tourtellot of National Geographic
Society's Center for Sustainable
Destinations, is that tourism sustains
or enhances the geographical character
of a place and the well being of its
residents. It provides local incentive
to protect what tourists come to see.
Geotourism focuses on the place as a
whole.
Civic Tourism,
developed by Dr. Dan Shilling of Arizona
State University, proffers that we must
reverse our thinking about tourism from
economic juggernaut to responsible
corporate citizen, enhancing the
cultural, built, and natural
environment, thus preserving cultures,
protecting the environment and saving
historic districts. More than being an
economic tool, Civic Tourism aims to
enable healthy place-making.
According to Dr.
Martha Honey of the Center for
Responsible Travel, the mission of her
organization is to improve ecotourism
using sustainable tourism practices and
principles. The Center's research
focuses on tourism as a tool for poverty
alleviation and biodiversity
conservation while incorporating
socially and environmentally responsible
practices.
Costas Christ, of
the World Travel and Tourism Council
submits that sustainable tourism is the
integration of, and balance between,
economic and environmental concerns.
Ideal sustainability encourages the
environment to flourish while tourism
activities provide a net environmental
gain.
Options and Challenge
As residents or
visitors, we can preserve the places we
love and those we yearn to discover.
Options are emerging for a new type of
tourism and a new type of tourism
management to take on the challenge.
Rather than treating our places like
commodities, we must work to integrate
social and economic development,
effectively planning, managing and
making healthy places building on the
authenticity of the community.
Dr. Robert
Billington is the President of the
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and
the Sustainable Tourism Planning and
Development Laboratory. He founded and
lead the Council for 25 years. These
organizations are based in Blackstone
Valley, Rhode Island, USA.
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