Why We Do What We Do

It's been a year since Scott Russell Sanders adressed the Civic Tourism Conference in Prescott AZ. His opening remarks should have been signal enough that what would follow would be a challenge to us all:

"I believe that Americans gad about too much. Our ceaseless mobility burns up the Earth’s dwindling supply of petroleum, destabilizes the climate, enslaves us to tyrannical regimes in the Middle East, embroils us in war, buries more and more of our landscape under pavement, and shatters our communities. I don’t wish to encourage any more idle movement.

"So I would appear to be an odd choice as an opening speaker at a conference on tourism—just how odd, you can decide after you’ve heard what I have to say. Too often, tourism is only another form of shopping, treating the whole country as a gigantic mall offering trinkets and distractions for sale. Too often, it is driven by a yen for golfing or gambling, a craving for novelty or scenery, or by simple boredom. If we’re
going to rove about the continent, burning up oil and jeopardizing our grandchildren’s future, we ought to be prompted by larger motives. Can tourism become something more meaningful and rewarding not only to travelers but also to the places they visit and the home places to which they return? I hope so; I believe so; and that is why I traveled from Indiana to speak here today."

I don't have the faintest idea who this guy is...but I want to meet him. I read these words last night in a transcript of his that my buddy Reyn Bownan posted on his Bureau's website (and you can read here).

One of my favorite catalyzing statements: "Visitors will know they have arrived in a real place when they deal with clerks who do not wear uniforms, when they find in shops well-crafted articles whose makers live nearby, when they discover on restaurant menus dishes they could not order anywhere else. They will know they have arrived in a cherished place when artists choose not merely to live there but to photograph and paint it, to write and sing of it; when archaeologists and historians delve into its past; when naturalists keep track of the local flora and fauna; and when elders pass on all of this lore to the young."

Words that all of us in the Destination Marketing business need to take to heart.

Comments

[John Groh]

Bill: "Words that all of us in the Destination Marketing business need to take to heart."

Seems like this is one case where Destination Management would be more appropriate. From arts management to nature management and on, DMOs can't market any of it unless it's there in the first place...I think - as I know you do - DMOs have a role to play in developing or nurturing all of these aspects of our communities.

[John Cooper]

Scott's remarks are on the mark. Though I have not heard of him before, his philosophy and similar ones have been our credo for our branding efforts the past three years. We have whole heartedly embraced the Geo-Tourism philosophy in our community branding efforts and community development. In essence, we want to preserve and present unique experiences and opportunities for visitors who share our community values. Unspoiled, authentic, fresh, relaxing, exhilarating...that is what we want to preserve and create and that is what the culturally sensitive visitor is craving.