Protecting People Different from Ourselves
August 2014
Tourism is about discovering the unknown and about learning about the other. Often in the tourism we need to deal with people who have a different sexual, religious, or political orientation from ours. We also have to deal with, serve and protect people whom we may not like. Often these people are a challenge to our belief system and from a personal perspective these are people whom we might not want to choose as our personal friends. Despite our personal preferences, we all have to deal with people whom we do not like, who hold radically different beliefs from our, or whom we find to be annoying. As long as they people live within the law and do disturb another person’s right to privacy or safety, it is our responsibility to protect and to serve them.
From the perspective of tourism a person’s private life is a person’s private life and it is not for the tourism professional to be judge or jury. Instead, tourism professionals are expected to function in a dignified and professional manner and insist that their guests do the same. Often live and let live policy can be a challenge and requires both discussion and thought. It is important to emphasize that this live and let live policy ceases to hold true when the guest is breaking the law or creating a physical disturbance that infringes on the rights of other guests.
All too often tourism professionals have taken the position that if I do not talk about a potential disaster, problem, or social conflict then it will not occur. Although prayer is good for the soul, tourism is too big a business and too important to the well-being of too many people to leave it only to prayer.
The old adage that God helps those who help themselves is not only theological but should be the foundation for any tourism industry’s disaster avoidance plan. It is essential then that tourism professionals realize that it is their responsibility to think about all possible problems and have not only a plan to fix the problem, but also to prevent it. Politically, the latter, prevention, is never easy. When resources are spent to measure something that did not happen, the normal tendencies of boards is to question the wisdom of the expense or to express concerns such as; “why did we spend so much money on nothing?’ Like insurance, however these are expenses in which we do not want to collect.
In order to help you think about these issues, Tourism Tidbits offers the following ideas:
- Have staff meetings in which people are able openly to share feelings and apprehensions. Staff meetings should not be judgmental and a person does not have to agree with a particular policy in order to implement that policy. The customer should never know a tourism professional’s personal attitudes when it comes to race, religion, and/or sexual orientation.
- Understand who your customers are and try to learn something about that person’s culture. Understanding another culture or way or life does not mean that the security person has to embrace that life style, but knowing about it, and realizing that the other person is not only a customer but also a human being, is what tourism is all about. The more that you understand your guests and their needs the better you can serve them.
- Remember that most people have more in common with each other than they have differences. For example, no matter what a person’s sexual orientation, race, or religion, the person will expect good service and expect amenities such as free Wi-Fi in a hotel.
- Plan in a way as to be inclusive rather than exclusive. For example if there are certain foods that one group or another does not eat fro cultural or religious reasons, then be sure to offer an alternative food choice. When in doubt, offer a vegetarian option.
- Consider if your hotel is child friendly or not. For example in a recent survey of LGBT parents, LGBT families will first seek a “child-friendly” location and only then consider if the hotel or resort is “LGBT-friendly,”
- Provide information about local events that will appeal to your clients. LGBT travelers often seek out a “Pride Event” and ethnic travelers often seek out experiences that combine travel with culture events with which they are familiar, such as a food festival.
- If your special group speaks a foreign language, make sure to have people on staff who speak that language. Often we create false notions about people simply because we do not understand them. Lack of linguistic clarity can result not only in misunderstandings but can become a safety and/or security issue.
