communication of sustainable tourism - anvr · communication of sustainable tourism dr xavier font...
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Marketing and
communication of
sustainable tourism
Dr Xavier Font
Leeds Beckett University
Missed business opportunity
Standardised, homogeneous
Easy to find and book
Convenient
Risk adverse
Loss of identity
Cities at most danger
Democratisation
of quality
Peers more trusted than
authorities
Top rankings due to host
personalised care
Not large or 5* hotels
Quality of facilities expected
Value co-creation
Capture value
• Tourism
businesses
Regulation
• Tourism taxes
Value co-creation
Create value
• Attractions
Attractiveness
Sense of place
Auto-regulation
– Airbnb
– Home exchange
– Tripbod
Localised experiences in a
globalised world
• Food and drink
• Quality and premium
associations.
• Reasons for buying: – freshness, taste and quality
of the produce;
– support for local producers,
retailers & community;
– perceived sustainability
benefits;
– and known provenance of
the produce
(DEFRA, 2008)
Staycation:
rediscovery of your home city “Communications around the ideas
of rediscovery and enjoyment are well-placed to make this happen.”
VisitEngland
The vast majority
of staycaytioners
finding their
holidays
engaging,
involving and
more emotionally
profound than
holidays abroad
(VisitEngland
data)
Changing demographics
• Ageing
• Accessible
• Non-standard
families
• Foreign born
“2 in 3 people looking for
access information say
they are much less likely
to visit a destination if
they can’t find the
information they need…
3 in 4 say they would be
‘a lot more likely to
choose the destination
offering the best
information.’”
VisitEngland, Winning
More Visitors
• Use it to make small
incremental changes in
your occupancy by
providing seasonal,
interesting offers
1. Altruistic reasons
2. Better product reasons
3. Expect it already
happens
4. Don’t want to know, but
don’t mind if you do it
5. Will avoid your product
1:30
I’d like to visit an unspoilt paradise, stay in eco-friendly
accommodation and contribute to the well-being of the local people.
I want to bag a cheap flight to Marrakech, be wowed by the flat screen TV in my hotel suite,
be pampered in a double jacuzzi bath, and steal a few bargains at the bazaar.
Wanderlust survey How far would you fly for a weekend break?
• 15% 0 hours
• 47% 1-3 hours
• 27% 3-5 hours
• 11% >6 hours
• “If I’ve only got a few days I don’t want to be jet-lagged”
• “I know flying five hours for a short break isn’t the most environmentally friendly thing to do. However, those extra couple of hours could be the difference between going to an ‘obvious’ short break destination and somewhere altogether more interesting”
VisitEngland data on English consumers
says:
• 58% would want to stay in accommodation with green awards/environmentally friendly practices
• 51% say that if two hotels were the same, they would choose the one with a green award
• 46% don’t want to think about being green - they want to relax
• 33% believe sustainability claims are often ways to save money and/or reduce service
• 15% think a hotel run sustainably will be less comfortable than one without green credentials.
A bed is a bed is a bed
• What makes my bed more interesting than
yours?
• In crowded markets, profile consumers,
speak to your target market.
Task 1.
Segment your database What do you want them to do How do you use your
sustainability efforts
Group A. More than
once a year
Group B. Once a year.
Check for patterns
Group C. One booking
only
Group D. Enquired,
never booked
• Be clear what response or change that you are hoping for from your customers
1. To make customers feel
good
2. To raise awareness and
change behaviour
3. To offer something extra
4. To get more customers
2:15
1. To make customers feel
good • Show them how they are “doing their bit”- by you
doing it for them
• Customers feel good (or less guilty) facing easy choices. Charitable donations, public transport or recycling information… none of these get in the way of what the customer came for.
• Tell about your local suppliers, origin of produce…
Tell us about your suppliers!
• A map of where your different suppliers are might tell the story that they are local- good.
• Photos will show a human side to who they are- better.
• Explaining how they take good care of the produce they sell to you will show that you also care about what you share with your customers- best.
2. To raise awareness and change
behaviour
• Be specific. Vague messages frustrate
• Show the difference you make
• Give something in return
Why charitable donations
• Bedruthan Steps Hotel
(Cornwall) explains to
customers at the point of
booking that they
encourage guest
donations to responsible
causes (while highlighting
that the hotel also does
their bit).
• £5 opt-out donation per
booking:
– Option 1: co2balance
– Option 2: Surfers Against
Sewage
– Option 3: St Mawgan in
Pydar Community Fund
Effectiveness
• Humorous timely
communication
improves
action at Innovat
Hotels
3. To offer something extra
• Design sustainable packages for your low
occupancy or usage periods, or think of
services that can generate more money in
high season.
4. To get more customers
• Increased occupancy or
higher prices?
• We all like a bargain…
• cafes giving a discount
(and others putting 10p in
a charity pot) for regulars
that bring their own
commuter mug - saving
on disposable cups while
gaining a loyal customer.
To increase occupancy
• James Hiley-Jones. At Carey’s Manor and Senspa in Hampshire car-free visits get:
– 10% off standard tariff rate
– 2 for 1 tickets at Beaulieu
– free steam train ride at Exbury Gardens
– 10% off cycle hire at Cycle Experience in Brockenhurst.
• 10-15% of our leisure weekend customers and 30 to 40% of our mid week conference market now arrive car free.
• We’ve realised how corporate social responsibility has become a much bigger issue and we now provide a green travel plan for conference organisers.
Task 2. Set your target
What you want What do you plan to do
(Product or Communication)
To make customers
feel good
To raise awareness
and change
behaviour
To offer something
extra
To get more
customers
• Be clear about the impression you want to create –
• with your sustainability policy, photos, text...
1. Fun
2. Cultural immersion
3. Better service
4. Empathy
5. Trust/risk
3:00
1. Fun/participation
• What can I do?
• People want the option
of being active
• People choose a hotel
based on what they
can do nearby (or in
the hotel)
• Wheelbarrow picnic
• Pick your own lunch
• Learn to do something
• Children’s quiz
• Town trail
• Books for walks
• Bike hire
The Twiggles
say: be green • BeWILDerwood is a family
adventure park in Norfolk.
• 70 local jobs, 87% waste recycled from 160,000 annual visitors, planted >14,000 trees.
• Bright colours and child friendly signage make recycling, non smoking, and caring for your environment fun.
• There’s none of the goodie-goodie speak here, it’s about enjoying a day out
Things to do for children
Temping without words
2. Cultural immersion
• Get to know the real, authentic side of your destination
• Reinforce the image of the person I want to be – Adventurous, independent, learned, inquisitive,
understanding of other cultures…
“We invite locals to dance in our hotel - but this is not a tacky show for tourists”
3. Better service
Make me feel special! • We buy local whenever
possible
• Food: what will sell
more?
– Sustainable, low
carbon footprint,
ecological
– Fresh, unadulterated,
honest
• Putting the client at
the centre of the
experience works for
all messages
– Roof insulation
– Solar panels
– Kitchen waste
Why don’t you go by bike?
Create experiences
• Children workshops
based on recycling
(converting cardboard
boxes into masks,
turning bed linen into
dressing up outfits,
• Adult cooking classes
from traditional local
products
Possibly one of the best
experiences of your life
4. Trust/risk
• We are here for you
• We are a serious business
• Peace of mind
• You are not wasting your money and holiday time
• You have done the searching for the customer, and picked the best
• “We hire bikes- and also tell you about cycling etiquette and how to be safe”
5. Empathy
• We are people like you
• We think alike
• We have the same values
• That’s why you’ll enjoy your holiday here
• “we would like to share the beauty of our island/city with you in the knowledge you’ll want to keep it that way”
• “we welcome travellers, not tourists”
• “by skiers for skiers”
Primrose Valley Hotel’s website
(Cornwall) communicates environmental
values differently
• “We tried to pretend, but it just didn't work. We pretended that all the water, energy and fuel we use replenishes itself by magic. We also tried pretending that all the carbon we kick out rises skywards then miraculously turns into refreshing, life-giving showers. Obviously we were wrong, so now we don't pretend any more...”
Family Worldwide shows we share the
same values…
• “What I’m finding more and more as I travel and talk to parents, is the overwhelming number of you who are becoming desperate to help their children to engage with the real world and leave behind the screen of a computer, phone, Playstation, Nindendo DS, X-Box, Wii...”
Task 3. Get the message right What you want
sustainability to say
How will you say it in your
business
Fun/
participation
Cultural
immersion
Better
service
Trust/ risk/
Empathy
• Integrate sustainability
as part of quality
through the channels
you already use.
1. Certification
2. Awards
3. Press
4. Website
5. Social media
3:30
1. Certification
• Independent guarantee of your
credentials.
• Confidence and credibility
• Not sufficient in itself, you have to
communicate what it is and what it means
you do better
2. Awards
• Only a few companies win awards. You
could spend much time on it without any
results, and you will need to show
something unique and extraordinary.
Angela proudly won…
She can’t wait to serve it…
3. Press
• What makes you different, in a way that
my customers will want to read about you?
• Links from your website to previous
articles, quotes
Meet your public relations manager
• The Mill at Gordleton
(Hampshire).
• Crispie the Duck, an orphan
they adopted is now the hotel’s
mascot.
• Photo calendar, children’s
book and doorstops inspired
on Crispie- with profits from the
book, for example, going to a
local children’s cancer ward.
Piggy weekends!
4. Website
• Your website’s sustainability policy page is boring
• “minimise waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are fit for purpose”
278 National Trust properties
350.000 albums
39.969 registered users
13% campaign awareness in the UK
The seasonality of your
website • When do photos say I
should come next?
• Blog/social media-
what to look forward to
• Get better photos.
Seriously
• Be your own tourist
information centre.
• Things to do
– per season
– for free
– real treats
– when it rains
– from our doorstep
Other websites
• Control the message!
• “All of us are very proud of the fact that we make everything here ourselves, from jams and honey to bread and soups…”
• is telling us something about your values and it’s speaking to the customer - without having to say “hey, I am sustainable” in that many words. Talking in terms of “you” and “we” rather than the third person also helps.
How not to do it
• “Hotel X will take environmental considerations into account in all its activities. Although ultimate responsibility rests with management, all staff have a part to play in minimising adverse effects on the environment. To that end Hotel X will promote the best use of environmental practices. Hotel X will develop and resource programmes for the implementation of its Environmental Policy and will monitor and audit them through an environmental management system."
Put the photo of the cake on
social media, every time
Task 4. Location, location, location
Medium What will you say
Certification
Awards
Press
Your website
Other websites
Newsletter
• You market your
company all the
time
• Help customers
make informed
decisions
1. Pre booking/purchase
2. After booking and confirmation
1. Food preorder
3. On arrival/ start of the tour
4. During the tour/ stay 1. Placemats
2. Menus
3. Maps
5. After the stay/visit
3:35
Yes, show me what to expect
at each stage
1. Prior to booking/purchase
• Sell yourself, sell your surroundings
• Things to do
• Sustainable transport but nowhere to go?
Camden food co
Show me what I can look
forward to • How far in advance do your clients book?
Promoting the local events is very
interesting. But what will it bring me to
know what is happening now if I am
coming in three weeks’ time? Your
website today should be telling us what to
look forward at the time we will be arriving.
2. After booking and
confirmation • How to prepare for their visit - what to
bring, what is acceptable behaviour, dress
code (if relevant), how to respect other
users that will be there.
• Pre-booking of local food
3. On arrival/ start of the tour
• There are no second chances to make a
first impression
• Live your policy
• Tell your customers
4. During the stay/tour
• Now you communicate by making visible
the things you do. Here you decide how
much you want the communication to
affect the customer experience, or just be
in the background.
• Towel agreements
• Bird menu
Communicate with your packaging
Use one thing to tell another…
• London Lancaster Hotel sustainability is behind the scenes
• Concierge info:
– limo & taxi companies using hybrid vehicles (geo fuel)
– display and promote cycle hire,
– Jogging map
– Green London attraction brochures
• This becomes a route to communicate our much wider and deeper policies and practices.
Communicating
sensitive messages
Taxi Ecològic:
Modern, clean, efficient
5. After the stay/visit
• Stay in touch with your customers.
Speaking about sustainability will be more
welcomed than a direct promotional
message saying “book with us”.
• From trees to the staff family picture
Don´t be a spammer
• Does your newsletter say “I am desperate for
business, please visit me”?
• Your sustainability actions help you
communicate something unique to your
customers, rather than sending spam that gets
ignored, or even worse, creates a negative
image about your company.
Say it with flowers
Task 5. Match needs and messages
What does the customer
need to know
Sustainability message
that helps take that
decision
Before booking
At the point of purchase
Between booking and
travel
At departure point
During transport
On arrival
During their stay
After travel
What will you do differently
after today?
Thank you
GET MORE HELP AT WWW.RESPONSIBLETOURISMCOMMUNICATION.COM
@xavierfont
/xavierfont
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