{"id":11214,"date":"2016-05-10T19:27:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=11214"},"modified":"2016-05-10T19:29:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:29:01","slug":"measuring-what-matters-in-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/05\/measuring-what-matters-in-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Measuring what matters in tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Measuring<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we construct \u2026 indicators has huge consequences for how we organise our economy, what kind of policies we implement and how we organise our lives\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ha-Joon Chang<\/strong><\/p>\n

I<\/span>ncreased local economic prosperity, an improvement in the quality of life, an enhancement of the natural environment, access to diverse employment opportunities, an increase in pride in culture and traditions.\u00a0 This is the promise that we make when we develop tourism in any destination anywhere in the world.\u00a0 It is the reason that tourism has been viewed in a favourable light by Governments and development agencies.\u00a0 It is the belief that communities buy into when they start to develop tourism.\u00a0 It facilitates the dream of unsullied cultures, welcoming hosts and pristine environments that tourism businesses sell to their customers. \u00a0In essence, this promise lies at the core of our product.\u00a0 The significance of the promise is such that any casual observer would expect the tourism industry to have a wealth of mechanisms to ensure it is fulfilled.\u00a0 The casual observer would be wrong!<\/p>\n

More than a century\u00a0of mainstream tourism development has rendered this fantastic industry one of the most economically significant on the planet (or the most economically significant if you prefer – depending on whose data you trust). \u00a0Measurement has been core to delivering change in the industry. \u00a0We have an impressive array of complex algorithms at our finger tips against which to assess the economic benefits of tourism. \u00a0The development of processes to record, benchmark\u00a0and set targets for\u00a0environmental issues has been\u00a0crucial to driving reductions in\u00a0energy and water consumption. \u00a0The tools that can be used to measure the extent to which we fulfil our promise to the communities in the destinations that comprise our core product are rather more limited and very under-utilised.<\/p>\n

There have been some excellent initiatives in this area, of which the European Tourism Indicators System for Sustainable Destination Management<\/a> is just one.\u00a0 But these initiatives are data hungry and feeding them at a time when the public purse strings in all but the wealthiest of countries are stretched to breaking point (or beyond) is little more than a pipe dream.\u00a0 If we really want to improve performance in this area we need to take a different approach to measuring what really matters. \u00a0This\u00a0approach must\u00a0be:<\/p>\n