Growing Opportunity From Challenge
From The Desk of:
Sustainable Tourism Ambassadors International – STAI
STAI
… Thank you for following up over here and let me
first apologise for taking the discussion to my Photo
Tour blog while we await the construction of the STAI
website which will feature a Members Only Forum
dedicated to the free flowing of ideas same as we’re
doing here…
So I’ve shared that our topic today reminds me of my
GrandMa who I never ever saw panic. When confronted
with a situation she’d often say “Good if it works out
and better still if it doesn’t”… and for the longest
while I could never figure out why the “… and better
still” part…
However when pressed on the matter my GrandMa explained
“You want things to work out; but what if they don’t?
Well it won’t be the end of the world!” This lesson
taught me to expect the unexpected and to be prepared
to make things work even when things don’t work out…
The idea of growing opportunity form challenges speaks to
exactly this and I found that many successful home spun
micro tourism enterprises have creatively done exactly
that and I have learnt amazing lessons just from seeking
to understand the unique excellence they bring to the table
Can you think of micro tourism businesses in your area
that manifest this creative excellence that has rewarded
their owners with success? …
I’d love for us to share some insights here that are borne
of our observations as I believe there is benefit for us
all in embracing GrandMa’s idea of “…and better still”
And what to my mind is truly wonderful about this is that
by sharing and exchanging ideas we can all come away with
more knowledge and insight than if we go it alone…
Looking forward to your thoughts and comments in the
comments section below…
STAI
Sustainable Tourism Ambassadors International – STAI
N.B. Please note that STAI posts are temporarily being made on the
St Lucia Photo Tour Website strictly as a way to maintain momentum
until the STAI website is completed, at which time all posts will be
migrated to STAI’s Private Members Only Forum
Here’s Thanking You for both your understanding and your contribution
to the discussion…
I have been working in the tourism all my life, so I’ve been now 20 years doing covering all sort of roles in the industry, from entertainment, to tour operation representative, to admin, to sales & marketing of touristic attractions, then director of tourism association in the north of the Dominican Republic, then building purpose driven excursions for cruise tourists in different areas in the Caribbean, recently consulting for sustainable tourism project and lots in between… I came to realize that there are a lot of great things happening everywhere, initiatives that are just awesome and could inspire others… but unfortunately there is not much sharing around best practices, useful skills etc. In my previous job, I developed frameworks and checklists and even a manual to design sustainable and purpose driven experiences for tourists, as a way for travelers to really see the authentic aspects of the destination, and for communities to benefit in a bigger way from tourism.
If useful I can share success stories from different places in the Caribbean. Let me know how it would be best.
Hi Ambra,
Thanks for sharing. I had the pleasure of visiting your beautiful
Dom Rep a few years ago for a photo workshop over one Puerto Plata
and absolutely enjoyed the place; though I must confess that my
Spanglish was a sorry mess!
You are so correct about the lack of sharing and as a consequence
the concomitant lost opportunities. Stories such as yours so warm
my heart as I believe they hold a key that can swing open big doors
of opportunity…
Wow ~ Way cool to learn that you worked at developing frameworks
and checklists around sustainable tourism and purpose driven
experiences for visitors and I would love for you to share some
success stories as nothing begets success like success!
good morning cordial greeting,
I live in Colombia a biodiverse and multicultural and pluriétnico country, we have many tourist attractions so much patrimonial, cultural and the most important natural tourist attractions of great international importance, day to day we the entrepreneurs of the tourism face challenges in different scopes.
Climate change has greatly impacted the economy of the region in the last three years, deficient policies that do not help in the promotion of good environmental awareness, where entrepreneurs believe that contributing to sustainability is to comply with a requirement of law and not something that should leave the conscience for a better world, Also we are a process of reinsertion of communities to the civil life that all their life have been in war by political ideologies and that because of it many peasants left their lands, now a problematic arises with respect to the economy of those towns affected by the violence that have tourist wealth and there are very few who believe that it will give result because according to the big businessmen only the oil is what moves the economy in the country.
I thank you for your space for reflection and I look forward to many more conversations with you.
Yours sincerely,
Diego Sabogal
CEO llanotur. com travel agency
whatsapp +57 321 262 94 06
info@llanotur.com
http://www.llanotur.com
Hi Diego,
Greetings from over here in Saint Lucia and Many Many Thanks
for sharing your insights into Colombia’s unique tourism
challenges as well as those other challenges that so many
others of us share as well.
…
Your comments have me extremely excited, for you are exactly
the tourism entrepreneur I dreamed of when I came to the
realisation that Sustainable Tourism Ambassadors International
(STAI) simply had to be created…
…
For while I hear your cry and I feel your pain, I see STAI as
the place where businesses like yours, and mine and the many
others out there, can come together to discuss our challenges
with a view to creating the solutions that will make us all thrive…
…
It reminds me of this quote from that renowned Nigerian novelist,
poet, professor, and critic, Chinua Achebe who wrote “Until the
lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will
always glorify the hunter.”
…
So my vision is that this online meeting ground becomes an oasis
of implementable ideas that allow us to both chart and craft our
destinies of success, with meaningful and authentic sustainable
tourism practices as the rudder that focusses us…