On Sharing Stories and Keeping the Trains Running

Over the course of the next two months, travel industry professionals from around the world will gather at two of North America’s largest travel trade shows. In Canada, the “industry” will gather in Montreal this April for Rendez-vous, while in June International Pow Wow unfolds in New Orleans.

Both shows essentially have the same mission, to showcase the very best of domestic tourism—the destinations, the hotels, the tours and the attractions—to an audience of international tour operators, meeting planners and media. Both shows feature jam-packed itineraries, with days filled with intensive, back-to-back, one-on-one meetings, and evenings of glamourous parties showcasing the best the host city has to offer.

And yes, those of us attending these shows will flood our Instagram and Facebook feeds with lively photos of Vieux-Montreal and the French Quarter. And yes, we will hear our friends will tell us over and over that we have the best job ever.

And while we DO have the best job ever, the reality is that these trade shows are about far more than a high-end boondoggle. 

It seems like the folks who work in tourism always get dissed a little bit. Like we're so busy being professional vacationers we don't do any real work.

But travel is big business. Every year, global tourists spend U$ 7.2 trillion on travel. Nearly 10 per cent of all jobs in the world are related to tourism in some way. In the United States, one in nine jobs is a tourism-related job.

Not only does tourism account for a huge work force, the industry is particularly supportive of small business. In the United States, nearly 84 per cent of travel companies fall into the “small business” category.  Most importantly, tourism generates billions of dollars in tax revenues — $141 billion in the U.S. and C$ 9.6 billiion in Canada— which all go back to federal, state and city governments to help keep the lights on and trains running.

When local economies are slammed by dips in consumer confidence, recession, fear of terrorism, natural disasters or any of the countless other headline-generating negativity, how tourists react to that news can make or break the local economy, which is the tourism industry always kicks into high gear to try to keep people traveling.

After the recent terrorist attacks in France and Brussels, as visitors continue to ask “Is it safe to travel to Europe,” tourism industry execs are working around the clock to assuage their fears. After Fiji was hit with a devastating cyclone last month, tourism officials turned to the media and to social media to encourage visitors to not abandon their travel plans.

In Canada, as the economy struggles with a dramatic decline in value of the Canadian dollar as well as lower oil prices, tourism is a high point for the nation. Value-for-the-dollar is proving to be too alluring to resist for international travelers, which means Canada saw an 11 percent increase in tourism this January.

In many smaller communities around the world, tourism plays a proportionately greater role than it does on a national level.

In Alaska, the attraction known as Icy Strait Point is one such place. The venue, formerly the Hoonah Packing Company salmon cannery, was the primary source of employment for the native Huna Tlingit people who lived in the area. When the cannery ceased producing salmon, the local economy took a huge hit. After the Huna Totem Corporation purchased the cannery building in 1990, they began converting the building and the surrounding land into a cruise ship destination. Now thousands of visitors arrive via cruise ship almost every day, and Icy Strait Point employs more than 150 people, most of whom are locals.

Newfoundland’s Fogo Island has a similar story. The island communities, home to generations of fisherman, tanked after strict regulations were placed on North Atlantic Cod fishing. Enter the luxurious Fogo Island Inn, built and furnished by local artisans, which opened to global acclaim. The property, which edges the North Atlantic Ocean, is among the best places in the world to watch icebergs float by. So renowned is the hotel, that it recently hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family during the Easter Break. Not only is the hotel creating employment opportunities for islanders, it is bringing international attention to this lesser-known region of Canada.

But these projects — and countless other, similar ones around the world — would never have realized success without a consistent, targeted marketing plan. And somewhere in the implementation of that marketing plan, project representatives sat with investors, tour operators, meeting professionals and the media and said “here’s our story, we hope you find it worth re-telling.”

And it is this — the sharing of stories — that is the true purpose of what we do at these global tourism trade shows.

It is exhausting work. Imagine listening to 12 back-to-back, 12-minute short stories in a row. And then repeating the cycle five more times over the course of three days. And these aren’t doodle-in-your notebook, check-your-text-message type meetings either. They require attention and engagement.

It is also stressful work. The people we’re meeting with rely on tourism. They rely on the new visitors that our articles and our tour packages can potentially deliver to them. Every 12-minute meeting we take requires a response on our part. We leave the trade show knowing that we now have the responsibility of sharing the 50-plus new stories we've just heard.

So yes, we’ll certainly be tweeting photos of Quebec cheese curds and maple syrup, and New Orleans gumbo and crawfish, and playing up our reputation as a professional vacationer.

But behind the scenes we’ll be processing the stories we’ve heard, making notes and burning the midnight oil as we find ways to bring that excitement back to our clients and readers. Because we do love the work we do. But also because we understand that we too play a part in helping keep the lights on and the trains running.

Follow @MonicaPoling