Victorian Tourism Conference 2014 - Anna Pollock - Conscious Travel

How the Game is Changing Through Conscious Travel building a better tourism for more

for The Victoria Tourism Industry Council Anna Pollock, Founder, Conscious Travel July, 2014

My Purpose Today Why we need to change the game Introduction to Conscious Travel Perspectives and Principles How to Flourish in a VUCA world

A Radical Re-think Is Needed

Re-thinking has Started Elsewhere Medicine

Education

Agriculture

Drivers That Push and Pull

“This report shows the world on a development trajectory that is not sustainable.

If we fail to alter our patterns of production and consumption, things will go badly wrong.”

10 mega-forces, all connected in ways we don’t fully understand.

The Earth’s environmental system is simultaneously coming under increasing stress. Future simultaneous shocks to both systems could trigger the “perfect global storm”, with potentially insurmountable consequences.

50 risk sources, all connected in ways we don’t fully understand TOP 4

• • • •

Wealth Disparity Debt Financial Instability Global Governance

Source: Globescan

Science unravelling many primary assumptions Quantum Physics Cosmology Neuroscience, brain plasticity Cell Biology Genetics & Epigenetics Consciousness even!

Connectivity enabling instant, ubiquitous sharing of knowledge Humankind a conscious evolutionary force

DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS:

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DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS:

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The Tourism Story

The Promise, The Goal

This is how the world really works

Where on this curve are we?

The Result • • • • • • •

Growth in volume but more: Volatility DIMINISHING RETURNS Lower Spending per capita Growing congestion Mountains of waste Resident backlash

90% + of demand factors outside of the control of anyone in tourism

Can we really handle another 600 million in just 12 more years?

How will we handle congestion?

How will we handle waste?

How will we handle emissions?

How will we manage our thirst for water and land?

The Queue to Climb Everest Source: Guardian

How will avoid residents’ backlash?

How will we protect vulnerable people and cultures? • see: Can Tourism Change its Operating Model?

The Island Where Tourist Garbage is Stored in the Maldives Source: Daily Mail

Protest Sign Erected by Young Balinese Source: ABC They Paved Paradise

Breakdown or breakthrough?

How do we breakthrough?

How do we cross the chasm?

1. Change our awareness

Change our minds, our mindsets

“We have one generation in which to shift human consciousness” Jeremy Rifkin

“The deepest crises experienced by any society are those moments of change when the story becomes inadequate for meeting the survival demands of a present situation.�

2. Imagine a better world

2. Imagine a better world, be positive

2. Imagine a better world, spread hope “Active hope doesn’t require our optimism, we can apply it even in areas where we feel hopeless.

The guiding impetus is intention; we choose what we aim to bring about, act for or express.. …Passive Hope is about waiting for external agencies to bring about what we desire.

Active Hope is about becoming active

3. Change our relationship to Nature

Change the way we see "The tree which moves some to tears of joy is, in the eyes of others, only a green thing which stands in the way, Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all.

But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

As a man is, so he sees."

William Blake

3. feel, see, experience nature as benign, nurturing, intelligent

When you want to build a ship, you don’t start collecting wood, cutting planks and distributing work, but waken in the heart of people, a longing for the great and endless sea.

Antoine St Expury 35

Our Purpose – to help our guests fall in love with life and Mother Earth and so that they too can “read the love letters sent by the wind and the rain, the snow and the moon” 36

The real purpose of tourism

To have our guests experience wonder

To have them fall in love again with life

To move our guests from numbness to aliveness from indifference to empathy

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4. Re-frame growth in qualitative terms

Human Development

Source: Richard Barrett

Evolution is pervasive and persistent At a collective and personal level

4. Reframe growth as FLOURISHING

5. Focus on Community

“To build a popular environmentalism, we need to restore in people pride of place�

The Conscious Travel Vision

A model

A Collaborative Learning Platform

A global network of learning communities

The Model

The Tourism Ecosystem

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Principles

PEOPLE

PERFORMANCE

PULL

PURPOSE

PACE PROXIMITY

PROTECTION

PLACE 46

PURPO SE

• •

PURPOS E

• • • •

The Why? From growth to thriving, flourishing Enliven Enlighten Engage Enrich

•

HIGHER NET BENEFIT

•

Not more, but better and better for more!

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PEOPLE PEOPLE

• • • • PURPOSE

•

• • •

THE ENCOUNTER Guest meets Host Involves all senses Affects the whole person – body, mind, heart and soul Caring passionate hosts create happy, transformed guests Engagement Culture 48 Leadership

The Encounter is CRITICAL! What factors influence choice of hotel?

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Great Encounters!

• Both parties must flourish and thrive • Flourishing is more than a transaction • Occurs when: • Happy, fulfilled guests • Refer others • Return • Rave • Happy fulfilled hosts enthusiastically encourage & enable their guest to explore more, stay longer, value more and care 50 more

PLACE PEOPLE

• • PURPOSE

•

• PLACE

• • •

Places are NOT commodities Each has its own unique essence or spirit Unique mix of geography, history, people Can’t be outsourced Places are COMMUNITIES Identity Celebrate Revere51

If we are going to take care of Mother Earth, we must learn to love her.

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PACE PROXIMIT Y

PEOPLE

•

SLOW down

•

LOCAL

•

Small

•

Experience don’t do

•

Wonder & awe

PURPOSE

PACE PROXIMIT Y

PLACE

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PROTECTION

PEOPLE

• • • • • PURPOSE

PACE PROXIMIT Y

PROTECTION

• •

Conservation Stewardship Regeneration Minimum Harm Protect and revitalise cultures Respect residents Nurture Conscious travelers

PLACE

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PULL PEOPLE

• PULL

PURPOSE

• PACE PROXIMIT Y

PROTECTION

PLACE

• •

• •

Attracting the right visitor Support not sell All business is social Need for Digital Literacy It’s the ENCOUNTER remember?

Rave, Refer, Return 55

All Business is Social

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PERFORMAN CE PEOPLE

• PERFORMAN CE

PULL

• •

PURPOSE

PACE PROXIMIT Y

PROTECTION

PLACE

• • • •

We manage what we measure Measure what matters!

Not volume but net benefit – community health & well-being Customer delight ---R3 NPS Smaller footprint Sense of welcome & enthusiasm from hosts 57

Integrated, Holistic Model

PEOPLE

PERFORMANCE

PULL

PURPOSE

PACE PROXIMITY

PROTECTION

PLACE 58

Assumptions 1. The task at hand is to re-connect and align with Life itself - Harmony with Nature; 2. Re-think our collective goals: from growth to flourishing; 3. Hosts to become active change agents; 4. Tourism enterprises will flourish by digging deep into purpose; 5. The model will change because human values are changing; and 6. Change starts and ends in

Imagine...... a network of host communities each exploring how to deliver net benefits from tourism, a good living for people, and transformative experiences for guests each in their own way?

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In the same way that cells combine to form different organs of the body, so will the collective output of these cells combine to create a new organic, ecological form of tourism one that is

environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulfilling

www.conscious.travel www.slideshare.net/AnnaP

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