Tourism in Perspective - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 13

contribution to the effective and ef cient functioning of the complex tourism system. While the public
(and even many firms themselves) do not identify themselves as part of the tourism juggernaut, the
fact remains that, as soon as any one of these services becomes de cient, tourism suffers.

Spirit of Hospitality

As already discussed, the operating sectors of tourism are responsible for delivering high-quality
memorable experiences. Care must be taken, however, to wrap these experiences in a warm spirit of
hospitality. Quite simply, it is not enough to deliver all the attributes of an experience in a cold or
detached manner. Each individual visitor must feel that he or she is more than a source of cold cash
revenue for the business or destination. Rather, visitors have a natural human desire for warm
acceptance as they seek to enjoy the range of experiences the destination has to offer. Thus, the
challenge facing destinations is to deliver their experiences in a way that enables the visitors to believe
they are welcome, that they truly are guests.
While tourists naturally recognize that they are transient visitors, destinations must first train
industry personnel to treat the tourist with fairness, respect, and a level of politeness. Second, the
destination must encourage its permanent residents to behave as friendly hosts to visitors who are in
unfamiliar surroundings. They should convey a friendly attitude and, when required, offer basic
information and a helpful hand. These small but important gestures will do much to foster a
destination spirit of hospitality that will, in turn, greatly enhance the perceived value of all the other
aspects of the visitation experience.

Planning, Development, Promotion,
and Catalyst Organizations

It is widely acknowledged that the success of tourism ultimately depends on the competence and
ability of all of the operating sectors discussed above (i.e., the front line of tourism) to deliver a high-
quality experience to each tourist one person at a time. There is another hidden component of

tourism that is equally important in determining the success of a tourism destination. It is known by
the unwieldy name of

—

planning, development, promotion, and catalyst organizations (PDPCO) .It

is the visionaries, policy makers, strategic planners, and individuals and groups who '' make the right

things happen '' that are increasingly a determinant of successful tourism. In effect, in tourism it is as

critical that we This means simply that policy makers

need to ensure that their destination offers the kinds of travel experiences that are most appropriate
to the visitor, always keeping in mind any limitations imposed by the resources of the destination.
Once the appropriate experiences have been identi ed through effective planning, it is essential to
ensure that plans are translated into the facilities, events, and programs that are necessary to provide
the visitor with the given experience

'' do the right things '' as that we '' do things right. ''

''
The organization responsible for providing the insight and leadership necessary to envisage and
bring policies and plans into reality is increasingly referred to as the

'' on the ground.

destination management

organization (DMO) of the

destination. In most countries, policy and planning involve two very important categories of stake-
holders, namely, the public sector (governments) and the private sector (see Figure 1.2). At the
national level, governments are usually represented by a national tourism of ce (such as a department
of tourism or a national tourism corporation). A national travel/tourism industry association typically
represents the private sector.
At the state/provincial level, the public/private sector organizations are usually known respectively
as the state/provincial government tourism of ce and the state/provincial travel industry association.
The parallel equivalent at the city/municipal or regional level are local and city government tourism

. The speci c identity of this organization depends on the '' level ''