Xavier speaks up
Senegal and the Gambia, 26 June- 2 July 09
Promoting women entrepreneurs in African tourism, this is the aim of Fundación Banesto’s solidarity and sustainability tourism funding programme. Funded by a large Spanish bank, this foundation aims to be a catalyst for training, product development, awareness raising and market access. I was part of the training programme for women entrepreneurs from Senegal, Mali and the Gambia, focusing on why donor projects have failed in the past due to not being market led (and in many cases, market relevant). I presented a range of ways that any project (and thinking specifically of the funding these women would look for out of Fundación Banesto) needs to focus on the market needs.
I had met Fundación Banesto already in January, when we presented together in the tourism trade fair Fitur, in Madrid- after presenting my paper on key mistakes donor projects make, and the foundation presenting their project (which did suffer from many of the points I had made), we agreed to find ways to work together.
Trento, Italy, 9-12 June 09
The Italians responsible tourism movement gathered in Trento, Italy, for a one day conference, that mainly spoke about what they call “solidarity tourism”. It is a shame that the concept of responsible tourism has been hijacked by such niche movement, with limited room to change the behaviour of the market. My role in this event as keynote speaker gave me the opportunity to put across a number of points on how responsible management and marketing is relevant to all forms of tourism, to explain the range of benefits we can sell behind more experiential, engaging forms of travel, and the importance of using responsible tourism for increased quality, satisfaction, loyalty and word of mouth.
Italy seems to me a country that understands marketing well and much of the more marketable responsible behaviour (Slow Food springs to mind) comes from there- I can see many opportunities for responsible entrepreneurship at the individual level, what I am less sure about is the ability of the operating environment, and policymakers in particular, to facilitate this. I do look forward to engaging with the University of Trento and the Italian Responsible Tourism Association again to raise industry awareness.
This trip had two purposes. First, the University Rovira i Virgili (City of Tarragona) invited me as speaker in their Cooperation Series, subsidising all expenses. I gave two lectures, one interestingly in the city’s hospital where over 25 surgeons, doctors and heads of department (including the hospital’s manager) listened with interest to my presentation on the ability of tourism to be a tool for development in poor countries. The second one, with the same theme, had general public as well as university staff and took place after work hours.
Second, the real purpose for me was to meet the Caixa Foundation, a well positioned funding body behind a strong Spanish bank that has shown interest in funding some of the actions that ICRT is keen on implementing in Spain. We discussed at length the potential for several projects and we have been invited to write these as funding concept notes, which I have already done and submitted to them, in the hope we can be seen as leaders in Spain and by extension key players in Latin America in the development of industry wide initiatives for responsible tourism.
I travelled to Majorca and Madrid, heading a small team of new partners to ICRT Iberoamerica, the group I am developing to spread the values and practices of ICRT in Spain and Latin America. The trip was paid by Spanish Bank La Caixa, to communicate to industry and press lessons learned in responsible tourism. Poor marketing of the event meant we spoke with more press than had an audience, but my ulterior motive of the trip was to gather these new partners and to convince La Caixa to further fund ICRT work and showcase us.
The trip was a success, from the perspective that it meant a group of 10 people I have worked with but mainly didn’t know each other came together with a common purpose- to genuinely engage companies, public sector and donors to understand and practice responsible tourism. The group includes experts linked to the World Tourism Organization (the ex head of Quality and staff from TedQual), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Commerce, the EU’s DG Enterprise Tourism Unit, a number of consultants and experts- the mixture ensures contacts, capacity and expertise. We agreed collective and individual action plans and milestones, that aim to launch the ICRT Spanish website by July09, recruit a small Spanish cohort of students for Sept 09, generate consultancy by end 09, and a large public event in Fitur, the Spanish tourism trade fair, for Jan 2010.
The Spanish savings bank La Caixa organised four round tables in Mallorca and Madrid to present international experiences on what responsible tourism means, and what are the opportunities and threats both for businesses, as well as what it means for consumers. I agreed to participate because my interviews with Spanish companies show we are years behind practices in tour operators, destination management companies and both independent and chain hotels, and this is often the result of poor media coverage, little understanding of international examples and changing world events that will eventually impact at local level. Responsible tourism is wrongly understood mainly as “solidarity tourism” in the Spanish marketplace, a mistake that means most large firms continue doing PR CSR reports with little meaning, and there’s no stakeholder pressure to change this. I wanted to use these events for networking and a chance for a team of likeminded people to start shaping ICRT Iberoamerica, that we want to use as a vehicle to raise awareness and promote responsible change through research informed practices. The events were well covered by newspapers and TV channels (RÀDIO BALEAR, ONA MALLORCA, IB3 TV, ONDA CERO, CANAL 4 and IB3 RÀDIO).
Dubrovnik, Croatia, 20-24 April 09
We must think more strategically about the benefits of research. My latest trip was part of the contract with the International Finance Corporation in our three year project to assess the impact of green marketing on business performance. I was training travel agents in better selecting, recruiting and communicating responsible tourism features that would be credible and marketable.
The trip was successful in at least six accounts. First, the training was well received and the client and audience were satisfied- I can see real possibilities of change from it. Second, I engaged one of our current masters students in the delivery of the training directly impacting on her learning experience and ability to find future employment. Third, three of the participants, paying international fees, are likely to apply for our course from it- one of them the client from IFC himself. Fourth, IFC has asked for further work from ICRT in the form of additional training in the Balkans. Fifth, the contents of the training I specifically prepared for this session will now form part of my masters distance learning pack. Sixth, I will publish a journal article from this three year project. In tough times we need to focus.
South Sinai, Egypt, 27 March- 3 April 09
I take pride in all my research and international travel being financed by external funds- I am under no illusion that universities are free thinking spaces. Increases in staff costs and overheads plus diminishing funders’ resources and greater expectations on value for money are making it harder to find funding, and putting pressures on personal time to achieve the outcomes. International work is often a good example of this- the project that regularly takes me to Egypt, where I manage a project to train snorkelling guides, desert guides and ecoguides, two years after first being part of an EURAid consultancy team, and having persevered to find funds to train local staff to enter the tourism supply chain legally, aiming to reduce dependency and increase quality at the same time.
Two years on, we are reaping benefits beyond my full economic cost. Three PhD applicants from Libya only last week, an MOU with an Egyptian university for more, the trust of the UK tour operators funding the consultancy who put their staff through our CPD masters and a contract to outsource staff training- how do I quantify the financial benefit of research? And where is the space to think long term?
Spain is far behind in implementing corporate social responsibility practices in tourism and hospitality. Nothing new here, we’ve also seen this in other countries, but with Spanish companies having such importance to the Latin American tourism industry (Cuba and the Dominican Republic are dominated by Spanish owned hotels for example), their impact is much greater than anticipated. The Spanish Cooperation Agency is financing an increasing number of tourism related projects (at our last estimate, about 30% of their projects have a tourism component, despite not having a tourism specific line of funding), and most of these are directed to the Latin American countries. Spain has exported tourism consultancy for years, but we can’t get our house in order- are we unwilling or unable to get our house in order, or even worse, is the model of development we are exporting replicating the many mistakes made in our costas so many years ago- and still now?
ICRT Iberoamerica is becoming more of a reality, as we engage our web designer in creating the portal, but also as we see the real gap in the Spanish speaking market.
Travel Weekly at World Travel Market: Travel companies 'coy' about marketing responsible tourism, November 08
World Travel Market’s CSR event on the Tuesday included my presentation on corporate social responsibility, then summarised by Travel Weekly. ICRT’s research of responsible tourism marketing shows that those companies with the highest performance usually do it for altruistic not economic reasons, and are also most reluctant to speak about it, and distrust marketing. This is creating a vacuum where less capable companies but more marketing oriented are greenwashing and creating a poor name for the industry but also for anybody that wants to reasonably promote their actions. The type of actions we will promote as green needs to change, as well as the credentials that a company needs to demonstrate before they are taken seriously. Using this research we are developing methodologies to communicate credible green messages to a variety of audiences that are congruent with the product and the experience delivered. This is ongoing and ever changing research, as online marketing in particular becomes more sophisticated.
TV3, Television of Catalonia (Spain): Creix l'interès per un turisme compromès Sunday 24th August 08
The Spanish media are showing increasing interest in responsible tourism, and this interview was part of the main evening news to disseminate the importance of more responsible and at the same time experiential forms of travel. In my interview I wanted to make the point that we need to understand that all forms of tourism need to be responsible, rather than understanding it as a market niche- there is more to responsible tourism than voluntourism or community based tourism, usually the main areas of interest from the media.
Plenty Magazine, the World in Green (US) Distinguishing green ecotourism operations from greenwashed ones 23rd July 2008
How do we know which businesses are green and which aren't? There are many (too many?) efforts to certify sustainable behaviour, leading to confusion in the marketplace. Bottom up initiatives are good to regulate destination behaviour but the challenge is to influence the market too. Marketing benefits are not yet sufficient and the cost benefit of certification as currently run is questionable. The US based environmental magazine Plenty dedicated its main article to tourism certification this month. In this article I am quoted as "pooh-poohing" efforts for global baseline criteria- actually not what I did, I said to the journalist that based on previous knowledge I had my doubts this would be cost effective, but not knowing the recent work with the UN Foundation I had to hold judgement. The criticism of what certification can do still holds, not because I don't believe in certification, but because I want to challenge the boundaries of those that are only putting forward one side for fundraising purposes.
BBC1 Sunday Life 13th July 08
Xavier appeared as environmental tourism specialist in the BBC1 Sunday Life programme, speaking about ethical travel and the changes in market demand for tourism. The programme looked at volunteer tourism and how other forms of tourism can be more ethical. Being behind the scenes in a TV studio shows you a whole different side of reality, and if we ever thought you only have 10 minutes to convince industry to be more responsible, try doing this on live television in half that time! Good fun and we’ll be prepared for next time, as Xavier is now in the expert list for the BBC for further assignments.
Observer: Have you been greenwashed? 7th July 08
Xavier is quoted as the expert undertaking the accreditation for Visit Britain to raise the standards of green tourism in the UK. The article does not do justice to the amount of work going on, but as journalism tends to do had to simplify the issues to give it an edge, an angle… that fails to deal with the real issue. Shame, missed opportunity.
La Vanguardia: 'The environmental impact of cruises is too high and the economic too low' 20th June 08
This article, in Spanish, reviews different tourism development options and compares them to the very visible cruising industry, relatively new in my hometown of Barcelona, where it has as many supporters as critics. It was first annoying but also very telling for me the type of blog comments this article received, showing me how far we still have to go in changing public understanding of impacts of tourism.
ICRT-Spain should become a reality after one year of planning and networking, after Prof. Harold Goodwin and Dr Xavier Font were invited as speakers to a national two day workshop on how to use tourism for development purposes. The event highlighted two aspects. First, the need in Spain (and by extension, Spanish speaking countries) of a more rigorous approach to corporate social responsibility. Second, the shortage of academic expertise due to a straight jacketed university system in Spain does not encourage the development of research teams.
ICRT-Spain will create a think tank and networked action in Spain amongst forward thinking individuals to promote domestic and outbound tourism strategies that are responsible and pro-poor. Much of the agenda will mirror our experience in the UK, with a Spanish version of our website being the key distribution point, and key activities such as a responsible tourism day at Fitur (key tourism fair for Spain and Latin American destinations), a live responsible tourism audit and discussion wiki, a regular column in the Spanish magazine Editur, delivery of consultancy and joint research, and key to our finances, the delivery of our MSc responsible tourism management as an action learning vehicle to change industry practice.
Xavier Font visited South Sinai Egypt 21-28 April 08 as part of a consultancy funded project by the Travel Foundation to deliver the following outputs: 200 qualified and regularly employed snorkelling guides, 100 qualified and regularly employed local ecoguides, 40 qualified and regularly employed ecoguides, all working legally. Together with this the improved quality of UK operated excursions in South Sinai, and evidence of the project impact on the ground for suppliers and tour operators (including customer evaluation.
The project is making slow progress, tourism in Egypt is growing fast and there isn’t always the understanding of why training is needed, and government hurdles have slowed down the transfer of funds to one of the NGOs involved. The time investment needed to manage such project at a distance is high, having resulted already in several trips from Xavier as project coordinator. Results are however encouraging, the creation of a snorkelling guide qualification has gone hand in hand with the enforcement by the industry association and tourist police from October for these standards which should raise the quality of excursions available, the health and safety as well as environmental standards. The further training of guides will continue during 2008, God willing.
Barcelona, 22-24th May 07
250 tourism industry, government and academics from Spain were present at the XVI International Symposium of Tourism and Leisure, dedicated to responsible tourism and climate change. The event was well run, with representatives of different hotel groups, regions and even real estate speaking on how they are taking the challenge of making their products and services more responsible. The debate was lively and the contacts were excellent. The event was organised by ESADE, a world top Wall Street Journal ranked private business school with whom we have relations through its affiliated tourism school, and also our competitors in international consultancy (specialising mostly in Latin America, one of our weaker areas).
The event allowed ICRT to position itself as the place of choice for postgraduate study of responsible tourism. A good number of academics attending wanted to develop relationships of whichever kind with our group, aiming for phd study, research collaboration and joint bids. We are exploring a joint bid in Tanzania, and should be hosting two academics to present in our PhD research training programme during07/08 as a direct result from this day, while Sol Melia (10th world hotel chain) has asked ICRT for help with their responsible tourism plan.
The oldest university in the continent north of Paris, the Katholic University of Leuven has a distinguished history with former professors such as Erasmus and Mercator, so when I was invited to address their masters students and invited industry guests on sustainability in the tour operating industry I did not hesitate. After all, this is a subject where the International Centre for Responsible Tourism has now developed sufficient experience, having supported tour operator associations not only in the UK and the Netherlands, but also in Jordan, Nepal and Laos to address their sustainability needs. The trip allowed reintroducing the subject to the Belgian Tour Operator Association, ABTO, with whom we are also collaborating to join an European project that LeedsMet contributes to, setting European wide sustainability standards for tour operator suppliers.
It is refreshing to teach a different cohort, I still get those butterflies, despite knowing the subject well and the welcoming words of the host and smiles from the students. What still surprises me the most is just how flexible our educational system is in the UK, in comparison with our European colleagues who struggle to an outsider seems a cumbersome process of course development and straight jacketed delivery.
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