TOWARDS A TOURISM INDUSTRY TURNAROUND: THE NEED FOR A NEW METRIC OF SOCIAL SUCCESS

This is the title of one of my last papers, published and accessible at: 

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/WHATT-10-2021-0135/full/html

In this article, I present and explain the need for a tourism industry turnaround combining changes in its governance and in its social success metric. Although the debate was ongoing before the pandemic with the sustainability approach as the main reference, the crisis caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has multiplied and amplified the voices calling for a change in order to counteract the inertia of a return to the pre-pandemic “business-as-usual” scenario. A review has led to a proposal that combines a tourism governance framework and its principles, with a conceptualization of social success and guidelines for building a metric for its measurement. This resides mainly in a transition from a public-private partnerships (3Ps) model to a new scheme of public-private-people partnership (4Ps). The P for “people” represents the need for an alliance with society to contribute to the recovery and transformation that the tourism industry is currently experiencing. In this process, local communities should be empowered to play an active role in it. In the proposal elaborated, host communities are the focus of its conceptual architecture. To date, analysis of the application of the 4Ps model to tourism is almost unexplored, despite the significant practical implications of a power re-balancing in decisions related to tourism planning and development. In addition, a social success-driven metric supported at the institutional level will contribute to redefining priorities in tourism destinations’/companies’ strategies.

In short, the need for tourism industry turnaround combining changes in its governance and in its social success metric is clear. This should be based on a transition from a public-private partnership (3Ps) model to a new scheme of public-private-people partnership (4Ps) where local communities should be empowered to play an active role in it.

(Post nº 401 in this blog)