Let's Get Sustainable!
Tiffany Elkins
HMG 6566- Final Project on Sustainable
Destinations
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My Favorite DMO and Destination
with the Best Practice of Sustainability
o While I have not personally visited this location myself, my
favorite place that I would love to visit one day is Cornwall, England located
in the far West on a peninsula sitting in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
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The Best Practice of
Sustainability
o While offering several practices of sustainability, the best one
would be that this peninsula is the only zero carbon tourist accommodation in
the United Kingdom along with majority of the rest of the world. This means
that they generate their own electricity, produce their own water, utilize recycled
materials and recycled waste. Finally, they have also planted several native
trees resulting in the reduction of energy consumption by over 90%. This
destination takes great pride in the product that they offer their guests but
keeps sustainability and remaining ecofriendly at the forefront of what they do
each and every day. This truly sets them apart from other destinations as it
can sometimes be challenging to find that balance between remaining successful
financially and ecofriendly all at the same time.
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Why is this the Best Practice?
o As mentioned above, little detail is given to sustainability for
those destinations that find themselves to be extremely popular among tourists.
They tend to get very overwhelmed by all of the financial input and put sustainability
efforts in the back of their minds. However, Cornwall, England saw 4.3 million
stay over visitors in the year of 2014 along with the total 14.7 million day
visitors that same year. Along with this, they keep their sustainability
efforts mentioned above at the forefront of all that they do. In fact, I would
confidently say that they are so popular because of these efforts. As described
in Marketing and Managing Tourism Destinations, “In order to minimize
tourism-induced problems and secure both the sustainability of the tourism
industry and coastal resources used by other sectors, increased attention must
be given to proper planning and the better integration of tourism in coastal
development. Negative impacts and conflicts are due mainly to ignorance of
coastal environments and inadequate planning” (Morrison pg. 64). Being
surrounded by the coast on all sides, it is very important that Cornwall put so
much effort into sustainability and how they would incorporate this into the
day-to-day life of their tourists and residents.
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Benefits & Consequences for
Consumers
o The sustainability efforts of a destination affect several
different groups of people including the tourists, the residents, local
authorities and so many more. As described by Wang and Pizam, “The experience
of a unique natural environment represents the core of a destination’s tourism
product” (pg. 328). In the case of Cornwall, England I strongly believe that
one of the main reasons tourists visit this country is to witness, first hand
the efforts that this community is making to protect and restore the Earth.
These tourists leave in the hopes of bringing back ideas to their own places of
residence, which I will discuss, in more detail later on in this blog. It is
very challenging to come across places that take sustainability so seriously
and make it so very central to their day-to-day activities. Coming in contact
with such a unique environment is a one of a kind experience for most people
and several tourists are taking advantage of this a year.
o With the good things that these efforts bring to tourists in the
area, also come the challenges and consequences that tourists have to deal with
when visiting Cornwall, England. This might include the uncomfortable feeling
of being so overly pressured by local residents in the area. It is important
for the visitors to remember that this is the home to approximately 536,000
people. Therefore, the upkeep and care of this land is extremely important to
them and they take great pride in where they live and the work that has been
put in to turning the area into what it is today. It is important that consumers keep an open
mind when traveling to new locations and respect the local residents and
authorities of the area throughout their visit. They should treat Cornwall how
they would want their hometown to be treated.
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Benefits and Consequences
for the Destination, Tourism Industry and the Local Residents
o Cornwall, England sees extreme benefits because of their
sustainability plan in place. They have a very clean airflow going in and out
of the country but more importantly they can go to sleep at night having the
confidence that they are contributing to a cleaner, greener Earth. The citizens
of that destination should be proud of the place that they live in and spread
the word on what they went through in order to come as far as they did.
o There are several other components to being a sustainable
destination other than environmentally friendly initiatives such as meeting the
economical needs of the country. “In addition to protecting the environment,
the tourism policy and management strategy must be capable of meeting the
economic needs and aspirations of residents over the long term. If it is to do
so, the following considerations may be influential in determining economic
sustainability. These include being of benefit to many, not just a few, the
utilization of local labor, job security, and attractive wages, salaries and
benefits” (Wang & Pizam pg. 328). A clear example of this would be
Cornwall, England. Their tourism industry is spiking their economy in more than
simply generating revenue. Thousands of people now have jobs because of the
tourism industry as well as the environmentally friendly initiatives. Not to
mention that this is guaranteed jobs for years and years to come because these
things are not going anywhere, they will be a part of that community for quite
some time.
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How can this Practice be
encouraged for other DMO’s?
o While it is very challenging to go to the absolute extremes that Cornwall,
England did in the fact that it would require several destinations to start
completely over with a new ecosystem and environment in order to produce such a
sustainable place, I believe the overall concept and theory of sustainability
is the important lesson here. While an area might not be able to do everything,
they can always do something such as recycling, reducing water usage, etc.
Cornwall, England should forever be an example to other destinations in that
they do everything possible to take care of nature and the environment around
them. The smallest things can make the biggest impact on the Earth especially
when nothing was being done before.
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The Organization that should be
in charge of encouraging more sustainable Practices by DMOs
o The Office of Federal Sustainability, more specifically the
Council on Environmental Quality, is a government agency that coordinates
policy to promote and encourage energy and environmental sustainability across
government agencies. Aside from that, this organization should go farther than
simply government agencies but into smaller, close knit communities that might
need help with this as well. Cornwall, England should be used as an example of
all the right things to do when promoting sustainability in an area.
o This organization should then take that next step and come full
circle by truly promoting the four primary pillars of sustainability which as
described by Wang and Pizam are “the ecological, economic, sociocultural and
political/governance environments” (pg. 327). Typically, when one thinks of
sustainability they automatically assume the “ecological” aspect however the
other three are of equal importance. Economically, a location should be
providing an excessive amount of jobs to the local community. Sociocultural is
to promote the local culture and heritage of a community, some places do a very
great job at this by holding festivals and parades circled around the idea of
the overall culture itself. Finally, the political/governance environments
should be strong in the country and highly supported by the local citizens as
well as surrounding areas. It can be quite a challenge to encompass all four of
these pillars however keeping all of them in mind will start that trend with
the residents and they will begin to see and recognize all of the different
initiatives taking place.
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If you were in charge of this
organization, strategies, tactics and actions that I would use to
encourage more sustainability
o The very first step in encouraging sustainability is to educate on
it. Majority of the population might not even know or understand what this
means therefore telling them first and foremost will take away any excuses they
might have regarding the topic. People can’t change what they don’t know, but
once they do know the world is at their fingertips and they will have all the
power to make the change for the better.
o I would be sure to have a specific plan in place special to each
area. There will be certain things that some places can do and some things that
they cannot do based on governmental restrictions, weather conditions, etc. I
will have a specific list of things I would like to see achieved by that area
as well as a timeframe for them to complete it in.
o Finally, I would follow up and follow through with the areas
making them realize that these things are important and there is a strong sense
of seriousness behind the action plans in place. Holding people accountable for
their responsibilities will better assure that they will be completed in the
timeframe that was given to complete them in. Once you give people the tools
needed to complete certain task, they certainly should not have any excuse as
to why it cannot be completed.
o During the entire process, I would continuously offer support.
There are many new things that would be implemented and it is okay for them to
not be done perfectly the first time. I would comment the locations for a job
well done and offer constructive criticism on how to improve for the next time.
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My role in supporting and
improving sustainability of tourism destinations as a consumer and/or industry
practitioner
o The biggest role that the operation managers have is ensuring the day-to-day
operations go smoothly while keeping the sustainability practices put in place in
the back of their mind. There are several different aspects to overall
destination management, one of them being sustainability and another being
service experience. Wang and Pizam explain, “The importance of the service
experience dimension of destination management has also been recognized for
some time. Tourists are buying experiences, and experiences are made up of all
of the interactions, behaviors and emotions which each tourist permits his/her
five senses to perceive and absorb” (pg. 336). Cornwall, England greatly incorporates
those five senses used by their guests into their sustainability efforts. They are
able to smell the fresh, clean air, see the beautiful environment around them,
and simply feel good being there.
o While considering all necessary service operations, it is important
that operations managers continue to be creative in instilling this culture of sustainability
around our work environments. We should continue to make it a priority
regardless of any other situations that might be going on at the same time.
Resources:
- Morrison,
A.M (2013). Marketing and Managing Tourism Destinations. Abingdon:
Routledge. ISBN 978 0 415 67250 4.
·
Wang, Y. and Pizam A. (Eds.)
(2011). Destination Marketing and Management-Theories and Applications. CAB
International. ISBN 978-1-84593-762-1.
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