Tourism Society Journal

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DECEMBER ISSUE, NUMBER 22

DECEMEBER ISSUE, NUMBER 22

The official e-journal of the Tourism Society

EDITOR'S NOTES As we approach our first normal Christmas Season post pandemic and the beginning of 2024, reflecting on the last 3 disruptive years I am interested to note the positives for the industry. Yes it’s been unprecedented, frenetic and stressful, but it’s also been transformational. We have seen the sustainability agenda, and by that I mean the whole spectrum of sustainability and all that it includes, move on by 10 years to at last be at the forefront of both the industrys’ and consumers’ priorities.

We have seen technology move on in leaps and bounds with fascinating unparalleled solutions helping us to deliver on some of the age old issues in hospitality and tourism. The emergence of A1 brings with it opportunities we had never imagined. A fragmented industry has finally shown it can speak as one when lobbying the government, and the profile of Tourism has risen exponentially.

I am wondering if we can reflect on all this at Prospects in January and recognise the potential of these seismic changes, and maybe feel optimistic for 2024?

Happy Christmas everyone.

Deborah Heather, FTS, Chair

WHAT'S INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 01

DOES DESTINATION MARKETING WORK?

02

A FEMALE PERSPECTIVE ON MALE ALLYSHIP IN TOURISM

03

MORE THAN A NEW SITE FUTURE PROOFING FOR DMOS

04

A HIGHLY PERSONAL VIEW FROM ARTHUR’S SEAT

05

WHY A NATIONAL REGISTER OF HOLIDAY LETS IS NEEDED

06

AN INTERVIEW WITH NEW CHAIR OF VISIT ISLE OF WIGHT

07

MAPS. AN AFTERTHOUGHT? WE DON’T THINK SO

08

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW GENERATION OF LUXURY TOURISTS

Does Destination Marketing Work?

SHAON TALUKDER MTS, BOARD MEMBER

Destination managers, marketers & consultants are known to have a “religious” side… They all promote destinations through campaigns using traditional marketing, newer digital, social and influencer-led initiatives. This is promptly followed by anxious prayers for the payoff in increased visitor numbers. The global spend on travel advertising alone falls somewhere between $10-20 billion and is growing at a rate of 9% per year. The trouble is, no one can really tell you which specific activities are driving real visits or how long it takes to turn a “viewer” into a visitor.

Objectively, any academic or statistical expert will tell you that correlation is not causation. That means something might be working, but equally, there are significant chunks of marketing budget that are simply not driving destination engagement or visits.

It is not clear how much budget-bloat is incorporated, with some estimates of up to 50%, simply because it is hard to accurately measure attribution. This explains why advertising costs feel intangible and high, and it is scary to consider that up to half of your budgets might be sacrificed to the advertising gods!

The currency of advertisers has always been impressions - “look how many channels we managed to place your brand, and look how many eyeballs saw your advert.” Advertising executives are sales magicians and will dazzle you in an attempt to convince you that they have exceeded expectations.

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“If you throw enough sh*t to the wall, something will stick” is not a sustainable strategy to operate destination economies in the 21st century. Other sectors would not survive long with this approach.

Impression-metrics are collectively known as “reach” in new digital channels. Destination leaders will tell you that they understand what the money is being spent on. It’s also nice to see that people in far reaching parts of the globe know about your local food festival, but after the glossy impact report is over, the head scratching begins as there is still no connection as to what happens next.

In some cases, people book through operators that directly link marketing to a purchase or event - here you have hard conversion data. This is why, increasingly, destinations insist on placing bookable products on your website. However, as we all are aware, the percentage of those that book directly through a DMO website is a tiny fraction compared to the actual number of in-destination arrivals. So why are the rest visiting and how are they making their decisions?

The truth is, no one knows.

Balancing Data and Intuition in Decision Making Google, Mastercard/VISA, and the mobile phone providers have long been the go-to data resources - offering big-data reports for destination leaders who can afford this level of reporting, however the data is often unstructured and requires in-house data specialists to extract meaningful insights. The next major firm to try its hand at digital customer conversion data was Facebook (Meta) with an application called Pixel which could be installed onto your website for a price, but was flawed and lacked accuracy as to what behaviour brings a visitor in.

More recently, tourism data specialist companies like Forward Keys and STR offer information about hotel nights booked. A recent merger by Spanish firm, Mabrian and Italy’s, The Data Appeal, creates a powerhouse of aggregating secondary tourism-sentiment data which for now is primarily focused at the European market, while “Destination Intelligence”, the data arm of Geotourist, signed an MOU this month with 20 countries through the West African Tourism Organisation to become a primary-data partner providing attributable visitor-generated data based on view-to-visit conversions. This builds on successful data partnerships across the UK and Middle East.

With destination economies now harnessing improved insights for decision making, the tourism data sector is becoming increasingly important, reflected in its rapid growth. Accuracy and precision are key in increasing the degree of confidence for leaders to understand the impact of every decision made, even before they are made. The lost 50% can now be yours to spend more wisely - with the right data.

A Female Perspective on Male Allyship in Tourism JOOLS SAMPSON

In October, the Tourism Society Digital Think-Tank session, Chaired by Shaon Talukder welcomed Alessandra Alonso, Founder of Women in Travel CIC and the Male Allyship Group, and Jools Sampson, Founder of Reclaim Yourself Retreats to discuss the importance of Allyship.

This article is Jools’s perspective of her year of mentorship, during which time she went from doing things herself to growing her team, being named in the Guardian and The Times newspapers as a leading wellness organisation, and successfully achieving “B-Corp Certified” status.

I created Reclaim Yourself Retreats in 2005, designing and directing wellness retreats. While business grew steadily over the years, the work to keep it all going became increasingly more difficult up until the pandemic when, of course, everything stopped.

As travel restarted, I did too, running more retreats than ever before. Alongside others in the sector, 2022 brought with it a crazy workload and outwardly things appeared successful.

However, I felt overwhelmed, to the point I could not see myself growing the sprawling business any further.

Completely by chance, I heard about the Women in Travel conference and decided to go along. Feeling like an imposter, I sat, listening from the back row in awe of the speakers and attendees. Then, feeling inspired, I applied for a place on their Ally Mentorship programme.

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To my surprise, I was accepted, and in December 2022, I met with my new mentor, Shaon. At first, he just listened. After so many years working on my own, being heard was incredibly impactful. We agreed that I had to get to a place where it wasn’t just me doing everything and that I should start by creating an Operations Manual.

An ‘Ops Manual’ wasn’t very exciting and I felt a bit disappointed that we weren’t spending our time having high level leadership conversations, which is what I imagined would happen with a successful tech CEO. But then, seeing my business written out like that, made me feel proud of what I had created. Being able to step back, and see how all the years of experience and learning had informed how I ran my business, made me realise that maybe I did know what I was doing.

Who knew an Operations Manual would be such a confidence builder?!

The next phase of my mentorship involved analysing my operations and establishing which parts of the business I could delegate. Shaon had his work cut out for him as I stubbornly insisted that I had to do most of it, but he helped me see that this really wasn’t the case.

This was the “game-changer” moment in my mentorship. It was the moment I changed my mindset. Having worked alone for so long, I had become stuck in my ways, and was not aware of the kind of support was available. I began outsourcing through a specialist company and immediately reclaimed some precious time. The irony of my business name was not lost on me.

We then moved onto HR. We needed to create a small team of people who could manage bookings and start leading my retreats.

This would be the key to me transitioning from being a retreat leader to a business leader.

During this process, I’ve encountered bumps in the road, but I’m learning as I go. In the past, I saw these challenges as a personal failure, but Shaon assured me that recruiting and keeping good people is an ongoing process in any business.

As we approach the end of this year, I’ve added excellent new team members and will continue recruitment next year. I cannot quite believe how much had changed in a year.

My mentorship was the perfect blend of practical advice and confidence building. My business looks different, and I feel like a different person. I still work hard but I’m heading towards something now. I know where I’m going with my business and why.

After slogging away by myself for long, I’m now a passionate advocate for mentorship and encourage other small business owners to seek support and perhaps not leave it quite as long as I did!

More than a New Site - Future Proofing for DMOs

INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD VEAL, CTS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SIMPLEVIEW EUROPE,

What is a destinations' digital pr esence?

If you build it, they will come. It’s a neat phrase, but it’s not always exactly true — especially when it comes to a destination’s digital presence. There’s more to visitor engagement than a new website and likewise, as every DMO understands, the expectations of today's visitors — and the very demographics to which they belong — are constantly evolving and expanding. Destinations need to capture, attract and engage with their visitors as the very landscape of the travel industry speeds into the future.

What experience do you have in the UK with DMO's?

In 2023 alone, we worked with multiple DMOs and destinations to create and refresh a plethora of websites. The Great Sussex Way, Visit Devon, the New Forest, Mid & East Antrim, the Norwegian region of Sørlandet — not to mention Norway’s national tourism site of Visit Norway, to improve their digital infrastructure.

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While it’s certainly true that these partnerships have enhanced the digital presences of these individual destinations, the year’s collaborations are evidence of something far greater; indeed, they show an active awareness by these destinations of the on-going needs and wants of their visitors and a willingness to satisfy them via a range of powerful technological solutions.

What results can you identify from your collaborations?

The results of the implementation of these solutions have been truly tangible. For example, for Visit Devon, Visit Norway and the New Forest, the mobile-first design of their new websites ensures that they can now successfully optimise content to engage with visitors via their preferred interface. This was underlined at the launch of Visit Devon’s new site in the spring, when Company Secretary and Director, Simon Fishwick, said, “The new website is a huge improvement. It is now much easier to navigate when using mobile devices, which many of our audience do.”

For other destinations, the implementation of additional functionality — as is the case with the use of Storyboard by Discover Northern Ireland, Visit Bergen and Mid & East Antrim — taps into the unparalleled power that striking imagery holds for both destinations and those they seek to attract. As Chris Barnhill, Digital Marketing Officer at Mid & East Antrim Council, put it, “We’re lucky to have some of the most stunning coastal scenery in Northern Ireland on our doorstep in Mid & East Antrim and the Storyboard template lets us showcase this in a way that catches peoples’ attention and generates more engagement on the site…”.

While technology can provide solutions to help DMOs to meet the immediate needs of their travellers, can technology be used to meet the concerns of individual destinations as the very landscape of the travel sector changes in real-time?

Yes, Visit Svalbard is a prime example of how technology is being used to help preserve the archipelago’s most precious asset: its unique environment. The destination’s site uses the functionality of their CMS to track and drive activity. Any revenue that goes through VisitSvalbard.com and commissions ultimately goes back into their investments, furthering marketing and development for the destination overall. This contributes to maintaining Svalbard as an attractive place to do business and a desirable place for people to live and visit.

Visitor engagement is so much more than a new website with the right tools, technology, and insight — destinations can raise their profile to satisfy the needs of today’s visitors, all while preparing to meet the demands of tomorrow’s travel industry.

A Highly Personal View from Arthur’s Seat PETER COLE FTS

I am really enjoying the 360 degree view from up here. And by ‘here’ I mean retirement – in my case after 40+ years in roles right across our sector. I can now look back with a calmer, stress-free perspective, as well as forward to the simple, guilt-free enjoyment of being just a visitor, albeit one who has hopefully picked up a few insights into that intricate, oh-so-delicate mechanism under the bonnet of any given destination.

At least that’s what I thought. But a recent encounter brought back an instant flood of those anxieties which will be so familiar to those of you ever charged with contributing to, managing and developing cultural destinations. The location was Edinburgh; the occasion, the truly astonishing Grayson Perry retrospective ‘Smash Hits’ exhibition at the National Gallery.

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What stopped me in my tracks was the work ‘This Pot Will Reduce Crime By 29%’. How I smiled at the undercutting irony, so knowingly and deliciously a point, until I looked at more of the statements featured on the pot: ‘This artwork will regenerate the local economy’, ‘This artwork will create 500 jobs’ and the killer line ‘This artwork will boost tourism by 22%’. Now the joke was on me.

Large chunks of my career flashed uncomfortably before my eyes as I remembered the case studies quoted, the endless committees, funding applications, sponsor-schmoozing, reports, feasibility studies and business cases aimed at securing investment in art, culture or heritage projects. The intrinsic community well-being value of such projects cuts little ice, so more often than not they needed to be heavily disguised and contorted, like an agile shapeshifting chameleon, to match the hoop-jumping criteria of this or that current funding regime or return-on-investment demands.

‘Projected’ tourism footfall and visitor income have always been far too tempting as the gap-filler in such business plans and unrealistic performance expectations often follow.

And this is Perry’s point – it is absurd to expect art and artists to do all the heavy lifting to deliver against a business equation.

Is there anything more chilling than the phrase ‘the Guggenheim effect’ and the copycat frenzy it generated among aspiring cultural destinations?

But hang on, the Grayson Perry exhibition was rightly a sell-out, the narrow entry timeslot on my £17 timed ticket was shared with at least 50 or so others with a world of languages between them. Perry himself has made a conscious career decision to move from making intimate pieces to large-scale work that can only really be seen in major galleries. In the Gallery shop you could buy a £24 tote bag displaying the piece ‘Our Town’, one of his most trenchant critiques of life in Britain. How clever….. So Grayson Perry gets my vote as a National Treasure, and clearly the National Gallery is starting to get a return on the £38m spent on its re-modelling.

A brisk scramble up Arthur’s Seat after the gallery visit allowed time for reflection – yes I really do enjoy the view from up here…

Why a National Register of Holiday Lets is Needed

BEN EDGAR-SPIER, CTS HEAD OF REGULATION AND POLICY, SYKES HOLIDAY COTTAGES Holidaymakers have shown a reignited love for staycations over the past decade, with the pandemic exaggerating that trend, particularly when it comes to self-catered accommodation.

This has resulted in new holiday homeowners joining the UK’s shortterm rental market, but concerns have now emerged about the impact this growth is having on the housing market.

A call for tighter regulations has been raised, but the changes that have been introduced so far have failed to consider the significant benefits the sector brings, thus presenting an economic risk to local economies that rely on tourism. Nor is there consideration of the small size of the sector relative to other property uses.

The issue is that governments don’t have concrete data on shortterm lets to refer to, so they’re only able to estimate how many are operating and what type of properties they are. This means they’re unable to distinguish between a yurt, a room in someone’s main home, or a property which has been dedicated to holiday letting and that they can often be quick to scapegoat short-term lets for local housing shortages.

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In actuality, there are both far more underused and far more vacant buildings in existence, both of which contribute little to local economies and could be incentivised into primary home use through taxation.

To date, the most significant regulation to be implemented has been Scotland’s licensing scheme for short-term lets. Introduced last year, the scheme allows each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities to add its own conditions, set their own fees, and decide how to implement them, often beyond the scope of the scheme and without any data to guide them.

Meanwhile, Wales has focused on introducing tax-related changes, including more than doubling the number of days a holiday let must be available to qualify for business rates and allowing councils to increase council tax premiums for short-term lets by up to 300 percent. Scotland are also intending on introducing premiums in April.

Wales is also likely to introduce a licensing scheme next year, and both Wales and Scotland have permitted councils to require planning permission for the new use of a property as a short term let. Both also intend on introducing a tourism levy in the near future.

Cumulatively, this means that running a holiday let is more challenging than it used to be and this could quite quickly start to have a negative impact on domestic tourism, which is the backbone of many local economies across the UK.

The creation of an online national register of lets would enable the government and local authorities to track the size and impact of the short-term lets sector, using this to make informed decisions about changes for the sector.

In a report Sykes commissioned with Oxford Economics, which was published last year, we found that short-term lets contributed £3.8 billion to the Scottish economy and £3 billion to Wales in 2021. This in turn supports more than 65,000 jobs in each country through increased spending at local businesses and the employment of local residents.

The latest data also suggests that there are over 47,000 empty properties in Scotland and 43,000 in Wales. Moreover, housebuilders are ‘banking’ undeveloped brownfield sites and while the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently investigating the issue, the government should be taxing them.

Until something like a national register is created and regularly updated, tangible data on short-term lets won’t exist and the risk of owners being penalised unnecessarily will only grow greater as changes vary across the UK. A register would also reassure visitors and enable councils to conduct targeted spot checks, something we continue to communicate to governments to reinforce its importance.

As we wait to see what the government proposes next and continue to lobby for change, we’re here to support our holiday let owners and guide them through any next steps over the upcoming months.

An Interview with New Chair of Visit Isle of Wight

DAVID CURTIS-BRIGNELL MBE, FTS

A new Chair is set to bring a wealth of national tourism industry experience to the board of Visit Isle of Wight, the Island’s DMO and it is none other than former Society Chair (twice) David Curtis-Brignell FTS MBE. David is also currently on the board of Visit Isle of Man.

What attracted you to the role David?

My career has been all about tourism, starting in local government, then working in - and later alongside - the National Tourist Board, gaining commercial experience in international hotel companies and tour operators - but perhaps the most rewarding times recently have been when working in DMOs. These are at the very heart of the visitor economy. They shape the destinations they serve and work in partnership with stakeholders to create a thriving visitor economy.

Visit Isle of Wight is among the most highly regarded DMOs in England and it will be a genuine pleasure to work with and support Will Myles, his team and the board to further develop our relationships, opportunities for businesses and meet the challenges and targets ahead, which I’m sure we’re going to face.

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The other attraction to me personally, is of course that the Isle of Wight is an amazing place to promote.

You’ve had a very prominent career in tourism – how will your experience benefit the Island’s visitor economy?

Whilst the destinations I’ve worked with over the years have varied – large and small coastal and urban towns, counties and yes, other islands – they have all shared common themes and challenges. And with this comes the opportunity to use best practice and bring those experiences to the Isle of Wight.

I’ve also been lucky to have had involvement with major events ranging from sport to music and industry programmes such as English Tourism Week (for which I chaired the Steering Group for almost 10 years).

I have also worked on events that target local residents, not just visitors, and I spent 5 years in hotel development which gave me insight into this side of the industry and the importance of understanding supply and demand in a destination and what drives investment; however, for the most part it has been marketing, communications and the development of partnerships with stakeholders that have been a common thread running throughout.

The Isle of Wight recently gained LVEP accreditation from Visit England – how important is this and what benefits will it bring?

I was delighted to be part of the 2021 Du Bois review into England’s DMO structure which led to the creation of Local Visitor Economy Partnerships. It’s a sign of Visit Isle of Wight’s achievements and status that the island has been awarded this important recognition

by VisitEngland. I think it’s worth stressing that this is not something which is easy to attain and I do congratulate Will Myles and the team for the work that they have done, on behalf of the Island’s businesses, to get to this point.

My very first duty as Chair was to attend, with Will, a VisitEngland strategy day focused on the creation of a new England strategy. The Isle of Wight has a seat at this table and Island businesses have a voice in the room as a result. It will bring opportunities in the future that other places will not be offered because they have not achieved LVEP status.

What is your message to tourism businesses on the Island as you start your new role?

A successful DMO works hand-in-hand with its businesses and other partners – local authorities, transport, heritage and all the other organisations that make up a successful place. To represent and promote our businesses effectively we have to have a close and trusted working relationship. We must be in constant dialogue. We need to know what the challenges are. We need data from businesses so we can see how the Island is performing as a destination and we need participation in research activities and marketing campaigns.

We have an industry conference on the Island on the 1st February and I look forward to meeting stakeholders there and getting to know them and their challenges.

Maps.

An Afterthought?

We Don’t Think So PHILL CLARK, CTS, BOARD MEMBER

It is estimated that humans started to venture beyond Africa some 70 to 100,000 years ago.

Whatever their reason, we can assume this was because they had the urge or need to see what’s ‘over there’.

We can also assume that maps (of sorts) followed soon after, if only to explain a route, in the dirt.

The earliest evidence of a map is ‘The Babylonian Map of the World’ that dates to 700BC. Though, as history has shown, our fascination and need has only grown.

Some notable mentions being...

Ptolemy’s map of 150AD and its Medieval reconstruction.

The map Christopher Columbus used, that doesn’t show the Americas and places Japan in the Bahamas.

Pirate maps, that as children, fascinated us by the promise of hidden treasure! X marking the spot. The imagination running wild.

With time, the sophistication of maps and the science of cartography have developed.

From a line in the dirt to a line carved in stone to a line on papyrus to a line on our screens, we humans have an in-built need for maps.

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Only today...

I looked up a train. The map on my phone showed the route.

I watched the little car on the Uber app as it approached.

I wondered how far Leeds was from where I was born.

A beach selfie posted by a friend on Instagram had a map location. So... you get the point.

My phone has Citymapper, Airbnb, the weather app, bus app, cycle hire, Just Park, The AA... all with maps at their heart.

Our lives revolve around travelling from A to B and maps are universal.

We all understand them.

In 2022, revised figures show that over 960 million tourists travelled internationally.

How many of those would have looked at a map?

To wonder where to go?

What’s there?

Where the hotel is?

How far from the airport it is?

What’s in and around the hotel?

Subsequently, technology has made maps multi-dimensional. Now they are more than just roads and geographical outlines. They are every piece of information we might need to discover, learn, share and of course, show off!

In lockdown of 2020, my creative agency was tasked by the Japanese Government to help bring tourism back to Japan, once it reopened.

Audience and lockdown mindset established, we quickly turned to a map.

And we kept looking at a map. We didn’t want it to be an afterthought. We knew it could be the catalyst for a great adventure.

We employed the best tech brains to make it interactive and immersive. Effectively, we put our map on steroids. We made it explorable, discoverable and informative, directing the user to the outer regions of Japan, revealing the more local, lesser-known hidden gems. We knew that by pushing tourism beyond the main cities, we could put much needed money directly into the pockets of the locals.

Through simple navigation and film (165 to be precise), our map was brought to life. You might say we ‘gamified’ it. Watch the film... Like what you see? Then click the film. At this point, the film showcasing the location that caught your eye takes you deeper into a more detailed film and written information on the area. If you still like what you see and want to visit, click ‘like’. That film and location then drops into your itinerary. Finished exploring and liking and adding to your unique itinerary? Then press play.

At this point, all your ‘likes’ are stitched together and play out as one unique film. Unique to you, to your trip, to how you want to visit another land. A try before you fly.

We then made it sharable, after all, friends and loved ones may wish to explore and edit too before they commit!

A line in the sand or a highly immersive piece of tech, maps are endlessly powerful and have an allure. Out of necessity or intrigue we humans respond to them. They hold our attention. Their power is timeless. The human urge to follow them too.

The best adventures begin with a map.

How to Prepare for the New Generation of Luxury Tourists

SACHA ZACKARIYA, CTS

By Sacha Zackariya, author of Leading Travel and Tourism Retail, a new book aimed at helping the tourism industry capitalise on new trends and behaviours.

Tourism is well and truly back. According to the latest data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), an estimated 975 million tourists travelled internationally between January and September 2023, an increase of 38% on the same months of 2022, and 87% of pre-pandemic levels.

But while travel itself is back on the kind of footing it was in 2019, travellers are not. They have changed plenty in these four years of staying home, as has the world. Chinese tourists are sticking closer to home, Russian luxury tourists are almost all gone, while American, Middle Eastern, and European markets have all rebounded. Since retailers here cannot offer the same VAT refund available just across the pond, it is essential that they make their offerings unique.

Gen Z are now a huge part of the luxury travel market. Their average transaction values are lower than older generations, reflecting their age and current purchasing power. However, by 2028 they will be the largest group of travel shoppers. Here’s what you need to know

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about this new breed of traveller.

They are Highly Educated and Purpose-Driven In 1950 just 3.4% of British young people went to university. Now around half of young people have participated in some sort of higher education by age 30. This pattern holds true to varying degrees across the developed world - an explosion in higher education.

These highly educated tourists are likely to spend a lot of their working hours in front of a computer, which means they have the time and means to do quite a lot of research. They will want to understand the history of where they travel to, and quite possibly the history of any object they buy.

This is where purpose-driven spending comes in. Higher education is highly correlated with a greater concern about social and sustainability issues - the young are more worried about climate change. This means being a brand with a purpose and educating tourists on that purpose is key to attracting them.

You can’t just shout about being “organic” or “sustainable” anymore either - not when your competition might have worked out a way to be carbon neutral or carbon negative and wear this fact proudly. If you want an example, look at Bambu Indah resort in Bali or Svart Hotel in Norway, or the Jewel at Changi airport.

There is a tendency for consumers to say they want eco-conscious products and services whilst they holiday but then pick a cheaper less sustainable one when they see the price difference. But this is not a trend you can ignore – especially if you want this new generation of luxury tourists to show off their holidays and trips on social media.

Experience is Everything Part of that purpose-driven culture is moving away from collecting items and towards collecting experiences. After all - the best Instagram posts don’t just show a photo of a hotel restaurant, they

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show people learning to cook the local cuisine in a hotel cooking course. People want to see people enjoying unique experiences, whether that be at their hotel resort, with a local tour guide, or at a tourist attraction.

The best experiences are those that are unique - meaning your London hotel should not just be a carbon copy of your New York one. It should have local flair and showcase the local culture and the people who work there.

Getting this right isn’t easy or cheap. It requires staff that are trained perfectly to understand this kind of consumer and give them the experience they want.

Look East As I mentioned, another characteristic of the new generation of tourists is where they come from. While Chinese tourists are staying a bit closer to home currently, the huge growth of incomes in the Asia-Pacific region means an increasing proportion of tourists will come from there.

Make sure you accommodate the different sizes, colours, and materials that will appeal to different tastes. I remember landing in Tokyo with my luggage having been lost and found it very hard to find clothing in my size because most of the local shops catered to smaller Japanese sizes that befitted their average body types.

Ensure you can accept payments in the methods that make sense for these travellers, whether that be WeChat or with cash. Cash is often much maligned in the UK, yet statistics show international travellers carry cash as their preferred payment method for small and medium-sized purchases.

It is crucial that your staff can greet shoppers from all over the world in a way that is culturally appropriate, perhaps by being fluent or competent in several languages.

Most luxury tourists want the same thing: a respectful, unique and exciting experience. You just need to work out how to offer that and train your staff how to deliver it effectively.

To win one of three copies of the award-winning book, 'Leading travel and tourism retail: How businesses can sustainably capture new profits in shopping tourism', send the answer to the following question to Juliana Algan at ChangeGroup PLC at juliana.algan@changegroup.es Question: How many tourists travelled internationally between January - July 2023?

membership@tourismsociety.org membership@tourismsociety.org www.thetourismsociety.com www.thetourismsociety.com 3696 8330 020 3696

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