Confronting Change in the Tourism Industry
August 2006
Travel and tourism are highly changeable industries. Too few tourism professionals, however, think about change, not only the changes that are occurring in their industry but also the changes that are taking place in their own offices, their staffs, and communities. For example, no matter where one works restaurants hotels, and/or attractions may be opening or closing. Furthermore tourism officials must deal with possible negative news as a result of a crime, terrorism act or weather occurrence.
As mentioned in part one of this series, tourism is a highly changeable industry. As such tourism officials must be prepared to adjust their marketing strategies to changes in the economy, to changes in government policy, to changes in allied industries such as transportation, or instability in the workforce. Additionally, tourism is a voluntary and perishable product. As such, any sudden change in any of the above mentioned categories can easily become a tourism industry crisis. For example, the best of marketing plans can be destroyed by a sudden change in the weather, a highly publicized crime or act of terrorism, or a geological event such as an earthquake. Travel and tourism officials must then deal with both issues of internal change, that is the changes that occur in their offices and staff, and external changes that occur outside of their offices but impact what they do and how they market. Lastly travel and tourism officials are human beings and that means that they too are in a state of change and what takes place in their personal lives may well impact their professional life. To help you deal with both internal and external changes, Tourism Tidbits offers the following suggestions. . Many people feel uncomfortable about these changes, that often leave not only staff members but also tourism managers and directors feeling lost or in an anomic state. Periods of change, however can be a wonderful opportunity to evaluate yourself, your staff, and your tourism program.
There is little that you can do about changes in the economy, world politics, or the nation’s military posture. Nevertheless, there are also changes that are occurring in your office and you can control many of those changes. Most people find change hard because change makes people feel:
- Be aware that change is moving at a faster pace than ever before, but society and people are often moving at about the same pace. Tourism and travel exists in a period of extreme change. From the women’s revolution to the age of technology, from genetics to politics, no era has ever seen as change come as rapidly and in so many forms. Tourism and travel has also gone a great deal of changes. From airlines and e-tickets to cell phones and laptop computers, change is now ubiquitous.
- Be aware of personal changes going on in your own life. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, changes in our private lives impact our public life. For example, if there has been a change of personal status (marriage, divorce, a death of a close friend or relative) these changes impact your work. Be aware of these changes, and make sure that people with whom you work are aware that something is happening in your life.
- Be sensitive to changes you introduce into your office or organization. Most people are somewhat afraid of change. Change represents a new status-quo and provokes fears of loss and potential loneliness. As such know that there are limits to the amount of change that an organization’s staff can accept at any one time.
- Be aware that change impacts different organizations in different manners. Depending on the organizational culture of your office people may resent the change, worry about it and argue that they lack the time, money, expertise to be able to implement the change. There may also be a desire to revert to past patterns. To help people with change be as reassuring as possible, and make sure that staffs understand that even staying the same causes change.
- To implement change try to know as much as possible about your organizations past history. How has change been done in the past, does your CVB/tourism office, hotel, or attraction have a positive or negative history of change. Have most employees benefited or suffered due to past changes? Also Ascertain what the fears are that your employees have about the change. Often employees will create non-issues as a decoys. Try to figure out what their real fears are and then address those fears.
- Try to determine who loses or gains prestige because of the change. Often employees understand the reason for a change, but personal issues such as employee competition and/or jealousies get in the way of successful change. As such it is never make a change until you have first determined if your employees are capable of making the changes that you seek. For example, some people simply refuse to become computer literate no matter how much encouragement you give. Another example is promoting someone to a job in which he/she is incapable of succeeding. Make sure that those undergoing the change understand why the change is necessary. It often amazes Tourism professionals how poorly their employees understand that without a profit or positive in-flow of funds that their jobs will not exist. Make the reasons for the change vas clear as possible.
- Be aware of external changes that are taking place in your community and then observe your staff members to determine who panics and who quickly develop a plan. Also look to see which staff members worry about personal which ones worry about the good of the group. Finally seek to determine, who among your staff demonstrates creativity and shows that he/she can think “outside of the box, and which staff members have the potential to grew from the experience and which ones reverted back to their former selves once the external challenge has been met.
- To make change work be aware that you need to have a positive attitude regarding the changes. Goals also need to be clearly set and all facing the change need to know how to obtain accurate information so as not to succumb to rumors and panics. Finally interact with those who are going through the change. Ask them how they are doing, what you can do to help them and if they understand that the change is necessary. On the other hand, not all change is good. If the change is not working, do not be afraid to go back to the drawing board and start again.
