Presentation to Pacific Asia Indigenous Tourism Conference

1. PRODUCT MATCHING IN TODAY’S MARKETS
Insights into marketplace realities and opportunities
Anna Pollock, DestiCorp
Darwin, March 30th, 2012 1

2. Elder Visionaries - Mentors
Farmer - Banker
Dee Hock

3. “We are at that point of time when a
four-hundred-year-old age is
rattling in its deathbed and
another is struggling to be born
– with a shifting of culture, science,
society and institutions enormously
greater and swifter than the world
has ever experienced….
Dee Hock, Founder of VISA and author The Birth of a
Chaordic Organization

4. Elder Visionaries - Mentors
Scientist - Philosopher
Willis Harman

5. We are living through one of the most
fundamental shifts in history – a
change in the actual belief structure
of western society.
No economic, political, or military
power can compare with the power of a
change of mind. By deliberately
changing their images of reality,
people are changing their world.
Willis Harman, Founder World Business Academy

7. Accelerated Consumption
THE PERFECT STORM Climate Change
Energy & Fuel
Material Resource Scarcity
Food scarcity
Water Scarcity

8. Accelerated Consumption
THE PERFECT STORM Climate Change
Energy & Fuel
Material Resource Scarcity
Food scarcity
Water Scarcity
Ecosystem Decline
Disparate Prosperity
Government Debt
Lack of Global Governance
Political Instability
Pandemics

9. BIG QUESTIONS How do you de-couple human
progress from resource use and
environmental decline?
Is economic growth essential,
desirable, unavoidable?
What’s the relationship between
wealth and well-being?
Are we measuring the right
things? GDP or GNH?
How do you solve global problems
when national mindsets prevail?
What’s the role of business?
How do we tweak /modify
capitalism to make it benefit more
than the 1%?

10. Growth
TOURISM ISSUES Demand Volatility
Commodification - declining yields
Increased Costs
Complexity – market fragmentation
Guest incompatibilities
Congestion & Backlash

11. TOURISM ISSUES
Source: UNWTO

12. Growth
TOURISM ISSUES Demand Volatility
Commodification - declining yields
Increased Costs
Complexity – market fragmentation
Guest incompatibilities
Congestion & Backlash

13. Impact

14. Impact

15. Growth
TOURISM ISSUES Demand Volatility
Commodification - declining yields
Increased Costs
Complexity – market fragmentation
Guest incompatibilities
Congestion & Backlash
Sameness
Fewer Exotic Places to Discover
Destination Management
Reduced Government Funding
Fragmented Fringe
Lack of Leadership

16. Irresponsiblity

17. Growth
TOURISM ISSUES Demand Volatility
Commodification - declining yields
Increased Costs
Complexity – market fragmentation
Guest incompatibilities
Congestion & Backlash
Sameness
Fewer Exotic Places to Discover
Destination Management
Reduced Government Funding
Fragmented Fringe
Lack of Leadership

18. Changing Consumers

22. The Conscious •Youthful, wired, highly educated, majority
female
Consumer
•Three times more likely to try new things
•Three times more likely to reward or punish
a brand based on corporate practice
•Dedicated “box turner” but doesn’t trust
corporate declaration
•One in four says they have no way of
knowing if the product is green or does what
it claims
•Even in the recession, the majority believe
it important to make choices based on
environmental and social benefits
•More than half are willing to pay more for
sustainable brands
The Conscious Consumer Report, 2009, BBMG

23. The Conscious Consumer Report, 2009, BBMG

24. Source: Richard Barrett, Values Centre

25. Search for Meaning
& Purpose
A transition from material want to
meaning want is in progress on an
historically unprecedented scale
and may be the principal cultural
development of our age
Gregg Easterbrook:
The Progress Paradox

26. Conscious Consumers
Wired to CARE
“Purpose is the new passion
Participation in the new consumption”
BBMG

27. Search for Meaning & Purpose
Differentiate by Making a Difference
Strive to be the best for the world not
in the world!
Source: Edelman Good Purpose Study

28. Conscious Travellers...
the essentials
• Wired to Share
• Wired to Care
• Seek purpose and meaning
• Want to engage & give back
• Seek authenticity, local,
homegrown, one-off, artisan
• Want immersive, transformative
experiences,

29. Impact on Business

30. Conscious Capitalists
•Whole Foods
•Southwest Airlines
•Zappos
•The Container Store
•Google
•Amazon
•Joie de Vivre

31. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost

32. THE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS
What Kind of Destination do you want to be?
Which guest is right for you?
How are you going to measure success?
Quality or quantity? Short term wins or long term gains?
Growth + volatility OR sustainability + resilience?
Who do you care about – developers or operators?

33. Two Roads: Two Kinds of Travel
Mass Industrialised Tourism Micro Conscious Travel
Impulse, Frequent, “a right” Considered, cautious
Comfort & Convenience Seeking VALUE & meaning
The Packaged Product Travellers want to engage, participate
PRICE a key decision factor Transforming
VOLUME VALUE & YIELD
Abundance of Choice Uniqueness= scarcity
Advertising as Spin Advertising as Support
Commoditization High Value
Standardization Experiences Not Products
Homogenization Local sourcing, hand made
Automation Diversity
Sameness Personal
Customers as Targets Customers are Co-creative Partners
No Frills or No Surprises Promise of an Experience that PULLS
SUCCESS = VOLUME OF SUCCESS = NET BENEFIT TO HOST
VISITORS COMMUNITY

34. THREE KEY CONCEPTS
1. Mindset
2. Place
3. Transformation

35. Why Mindset?
“The significant problems we face
cannot be solved with the same
level of thinking or consciousness
we used to create them.”

36. Worldview as a Set of Lenses

37. Mainstream tourism borrowed its operating
model from manufacturing
Product Centric. Packaged
Standardization, Homogenization,
Economies of Scale
Consumers segmented & targeted
Transactional & Adversarial
37

38. Assumptions Underpinning
An Industrial Worldview
 It’s a material world – we’re physical beings & value lies in
things
 The universe is like a machine with separate parts that can be
disassembled & measured
 We’re separate objects
 Only the fittest, strongest survive – It’s compete or die
 The earth is a lumberyard with resources to be used to make
and sell things
 The sole purpose of business is to make a profit
 Success is about having & doing more and status is related to
what you have or have achieved (money, power)
 Technology will solve all our our problems


39. An Alternative Worldview
 We’re not matter but energy (waves and particles)
 The universe is alive, not dead
 Everything is connected
 The earth is a living organism – natural law supersedes human
laws
 All beings are kin and we take only what we need and do so
with respect
 We prosper through cooperation and collaboration – a process
of give and take
 Wealth is not about stuff but well-being or “wellth”
 Status does not come from what you have but from what you
give away.

40. The Power of PLACE
 Each place is unique
 13.5 billion years of evolution – cannot be re-created or
replicated
 A blend of past, present, future
 Culture = relationships between people and earth
 Personality not brand
 Antidote to sameness and commoditization
 Stimulates all senses
 Satisfies needs of the whole person: body, mind, spirit and
soul
 Each place is Sacred – subject of wonder & awe

41. From PRODUCT to PLACE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE THE CUSTODIANS

42. HOSTS as AGENTS OF TRANSFORMATION
 TRANSFORM GUESTS
 Help guests to switch lenses
 Engender reciprocity, respect
 Ignite a sense of wonder & awe
 TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES
 Hosts as agents of change
 Create Places that CARE
 ROLE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
 Midwives
 Guides, Custodians

43. Thank You!
Anna Pollock
www.slideshare.net/AnnaP
www.conscioustourism.wordpress.com
Email: annapollock@me.com