Over the years of looking at the phenomenon that is #toilettourism, one of the questions that perennially arises is the issue of why queues for the womens' toilets are so much longer than mens'. Every time we do research on events, this topic comes up. So we were delighted to be asked by ABC Radio in Adelaide to talk about the subject. Clearly there are other people out there who are passionate about it as the piece was triggered by an article written by Lisel O’Dwyer, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social and Policy Studies at Flinders … [Read more...]
Is Tourism Innovative?
Does tourism suffer from the innovator's dilemma? A couple of years ago, we were commissioned to build an evidence-based marketing plan for a tour operator. At the time, they were highly successful but an external review had identified that they lacked process and a way to drive the next wave of growth. This was where we came in. When we sat down for our inception meeting, I commented how excited I was to be working with a business at this stage of the business cycle. This is exactly the time a business should scan the horizon looking for … [Read more...]
Perception is Reality Marketing Both in Diplomacy and Tourism
Perceptive readers of this blog will notice that I tend to draw on a lot of history - and especially military history - analogies. (So as you can imagine I am loving doing all the work on our culture and heritage blogs right now – and watching with great interest all the coverage for the Anzac Day Centenary) In my piece on tourism strategy and the lessons from World War I, I drew on Margaret Macmillan’s great book ‘The war that ended peace” to see the lessons for strategy in tourism businesses. As I noted then, there have been no shortages of … [Read more...]
Are You Asking the Right Questions in Your Tourism Business Strategy?
It’s likely no one needs reminding that 2014 was the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. This anniversary leads to a flood of books on the subject with two that seemed to be consistent winners in the reviewers’ eyes: The War that Ended Peace by Margaret Macmillan and The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark. ‘The Sleepwalkers’ is next on my reading list, but I can certainly highly recommend ‘The War that Ended Peace’. One of the most fascinating elements of the book (plot spoiler) is the extent to which policymakers on all sides in Europe … [Read more...]