Over the weekend, I found myself reflecting on one of the better webinars I've seen this year. Part of Connect Travel's "See Tomorrow" series, last week's episode focused on resident sentiment with Colorado's Cathy Ritter, Park City's Jennifer Wesselhoff, Hawaii's Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā and Longwoods International's Amir Eylon, moderated by TripAdvisor's Steve Paganelli. If you didn't catch it live...make time to catch up with the recording in the next week or so.
Why sooner than later? If the pace of vaccinations continues on its forward trajectory and the fourth spike sputters, Destination Marketing Organizations will be returning to the marketplace with invitations for consumers to visit. The "when you're ready" message will increasingly be replaced by "we're ready for you." But, is your community really ready?
As Amir reminded viewers, 4 out of 10 residents remain wary of their community unfurling the welcome mat...and that's too close to 50-50 for me.
Despite the pressure to get back into the game, the question must be asked, will residents be happy to see visitors again? And, have they come to enjoy the relative quiet of the past year in many of our communities?
A lot of residents of Big Sur are kinda diggin' that Highway One collapsed, cutting off outside access to the community. In a recent story, one resident said she is "celebrating the tranquility."
How many of your residents feel the same way?
After a pandemic year, I felt a lot of people around me changed. A lot of people who previously could not have lived without the excitement, now they love the tranquility.
Posted by: Domain | March 01, 2021 at 09:42