Tangibles in Tourism

When designing a tourism product there are two things we think about, the tangible and intangible elements. Undeniably one of the biggest aspects of tourism is service, which is, an intangible element. Beyond this though are the tangible aspects such as, F&B(restaurants and bars), hotel rooms, and pools. When deciding on these we tend focus on getting the highest quality within our budget. However designing and choosing these, we must remember they are not a stand alone.


These elements and products are merely tools to achieve intangible benefits. Intangible benefits being feelings such as comfort, relaxation, and excitement. This means people may choose a hotel suite because it gives them the feeling of isolation and not because of the actual quality of its tangible elements. It is an issue of the total being larger than the sum.


This is why we must be fully aware of our high fit customers, and their motivation for the vacation. We also need to be aware of what our brand represents and out core offering(benefit to customers). When we understand this, we realize we do not nessecarily need the 'best' products. Rather the products that embody the intangible benefits our customers are looking for.

Sustainable Mobility

What comes to mind when one thinks of sustainable mobility? Is it electric and hydrogen cars, light rail systems and bicycles? If you thought of these things essentially you would be right, but is that everything? Does the whole issue of transportation on the journey of sustainable development boil down to just our dependency on oil and its impacts?

If we are to achieve sustainability in tourism then the environment and the issue of climate change are just pieces of the puzzle. I will attempt to look a little bit on the social and economic aspects of this issue of mobility. Taking the issue of the environmental damage out of the picture I will examine two aspects of sustainable mobility often overlooked.First I would look at mobility within destinations and then between destinations.

In tourism there is a term called 'multiply effect', which in essence, is how money is circulated through the local economy without any leakages (e.g. money leaving the destination). Having a high multiply effect is imperative for true economic development and for the multiply effect of a destination to be high, locals and tourists need to purchase from local shops and vendors. This helps the local economy by promoting linkages throughout the economy and encouraging entrepreneurship. Because of this the act of patronizing these shops should be easy and convenient. This is where the issue of walk-able cities and destinations come into play. In destinations not conducive to walking and cycling, especially cities, there is vehicular traffic and parking is always at a premium. This has a direct impact on the likelihood of someone randomly going into a store and purchasing an product or service. For this reason, destinations in the Caribbean should try to become as walkable as possible so tourists allowing them to explore the area with ease. In doing so, contribute to the development of the local economy. Someone who is walking along the street is more likely to stop and support local business than someone who is stuck in traffic or searching for a park.

Another hindrance to sustainable mobility is that of vertical integration. Vertical integration in tourism refers to when international tour companies have links with international airlines and hotel chains. These tour companies then promote their linkages and most times only recommend their partners to their customers. How does this affect the sustainability of island states? The answer is that these island states are then not in control of their own destiny. Neither do they reap all of the economic benefits of the vacations they facilitate. In other words, a tourist attraction or hotel in the Caribbean may be at the pinnacle of sustainability charts, yet how its guest arrives at the site may not be sustainable. Research done by the United Nations Economic Council of Latin America shows that the host nation only gets 40-45% of the retail cost of the organized holiday tours. Even if they used local hotels and visit locally own sites. The 55%-60% is lost with the use of foreign airlines. This percentage drops even further when the tourist utilizes foreign owned hotels and other foreign owned attractions.

With foreign airlines taking that much money, it forces us to look as sustainable mobility beyond just its environmental impacts. The use of foreign airlines to get to a vacation destination can deny the country of approximately half of the money they help generate. With this in mind, no matter how clean air fuel gets, can it really be considered sustainable? The answer is no. The dependence on international airlines can in some cases can ruin a country’s tourism product, by deeming that route 'unprofitable'. However it is impossible for all island states to have their own national carrier as they are a drain on national funds. We have seen a perfect example in the case of Air Jamaica.

I’m not quite sure how we are going to deal with this issue but I do know that the current system is not doing small island developing states any justice. Hopefully though, we can begin to look at this issue from a wider perspective and help us achieve sustainable tourism.

What are your thoughts?

Running at Your Pace

I was anxious to start back running after some time off, due to knee injuries. Excited and rearing to go, I went running with my two brothers(both in much better shape than me) around the nearby university. After one lap though, I had to stop to walk and fell behind. However, my pride could not let me fall so far behind so I started back running, pushing myself to reach my brothers. Because I was pushing myself beyond my limit I was not maintaining proper running form.


I did temporarily meet them, but it was not to last. I was so exhausted when I caught up, I had to stop again and they went on to finish the lap. At the time, reaching them for that one second was enough for me. After the run however, I felt the true consequences of my actions. In pushing myself way beyond my level of fitness, I lost form and did more harm than good, as my old injuries resurfaced.


I believe there are parallels between my running predicament and personal development. Sometimes in life we get caught up trying to emulate what we see from others and sacrifice everything for the end result. When we do this, we are doing ourselves a disservice. We need to be true to ourselves and focus on our own development. We also need to recognize that those running ahead of us were once like us and reached there through hard work and effort.


In terms of running this means maintaining proper form and progressing steadily. However in life, it may mean putting extra hours at work or school. We need to constantly be improving ourselves rather than trying to live the life of others.


I am happy to report that I was able to control my pride during my last run. I kept my pace and maintained proper form even though I was behind again.
Regarding the fact that I'm always behind, well, I'm working on that. Lol

Tips on Presenting

Recently I completed over 10 presentations in 3 days. It can be a bit nerve wrecking, but presentations is always something that I loved. I love the idea of talking people, keeping them interested as well as imparting some knowledge to them. Also how, for 20 minutes or less, you can completely transform your persona. Over the weekend I was interviewed on my presentation as well as on presenting and it got me thinking about how I present. So I'm going to go through 7 main points that allow me to have good presentations and also help me feel comfortable.

1. Know your presentation and its topic. There are no two ways about it. The only way you are going to have good presentation and feel comfortable and confident is if you know everything there is to know about the topic and your presentation.
2. Use examples when possible. People are better able understand your presentation if you can give real world examples they can relate to.
3. Keep your slides clean and simple. Slides should be used as visual cues as opposed to information(exception;info graphics and numerical data). I like to use the slides for visual cues for both my audience and myself. Remember you are the focus of your audience not the slide. If the slide is full of words they will spend more time reading it than listening to you.
4. Practice but don't rehearse. The worst thing you can do when you present is to try and rehearse exactly what you want to say. What would happen is with the added pressure of a real audience you will become nervous and may forget tiny details which my fluster you. However it is important to actually say the presentation out loud when practising as it helps build confidence, and also allows you to really critique your presentation.
5. Be confident. How an you expect the audience to embrace what you said if you haven't?
6. Don't present. It might sound weird I know. But something that I try to do is not actually present but rather engage. You need to talk to your audience. You need to connect to them so that each person in the room feels that you are talking to them and not a crowd. This also helps you gauge the reaction of people in the room, to know when to emphasis on a point or when to move on. (Tip – During your presentation pick out two people who appear interested in what your saying. Make regular eye contact with them and it will help your confidence. Also nothing is wrong with having one or two of your good friends in the crowd to just nod and give you confidence, I did it for my first one:)).
7. Lastly you need to have fun. Unless your presenting on a topic that is socially bad(example crime), try to be happy, laugh, smile, make jokes, and have fun. It's no secret a smile in contagious. A smile helps you feel relaxed, at ease, and helps pick up your mood. Not taking yourself too seriously also does wonders. So if your up there, might as well have fun:)

Like everyone I have my flaws in presenting and have a lot to still learn. These are just some pointers that have helped me with my presentations. I've attached a small clip of my presenting “Flow's World” after the jump.

An Amazing weekend

Just completed one of the most interesting weekends of my life. I was involved in a open fair put off by Flow Trinidad(an internet, cable, and telephone company). I helped launch a new product that my family's company launched,(http://ilearntt.com/). It was the first time I presented to the public, first time I was on Tv, and also the first time I've ever been interviewed. If my writing flow seems a bit off my apologies, it's the result of 3 days of intense energy:) I'm off to bed now and would provide more details and links tomorrow.

Low Financial Risk

In my last blog I spoke about a good way to get started with a business. In this entry I would speak about one of the benefits of this type of start up. The first one is low financial risk. Its no secret that many start ups no matter how small require a certain amount of financial capital. However investing quickly into these business ventures can be disastrous.
People have been known to misread business and market trends which leads to failed businesses. Young entrepreneurs have also been known underestimate the financial costs and benefits that come with the services or products they offer. This is why a sort of organic growth is beneficial as it allows the entrepreneur to get first hand experience with the potential customers as well as the potential pit falls that might be unseen so far. This may help the business in one way or another. A possible outcome of this approach would be the realization that a slight change of the product is the difference between success and failure.

Life is a journey not a destination, so is a start up

Everyone loves launches. Free giveaways, lots of hype, and publicity. It's like showing people a finished painting of your idea. Having a launch and starting your business with all the bells and whistles has its benefits. Customers find out about all the services you have to offer, get an idea of what the intended brand is, and you benefit from that initial boost in publicity. However it does have its downfalls. There risk of losing the financial investment by misreading markets and trends, and the host of other little problems. The biggest problem though is it might never happen.

People who dream of owning a business, small or big, spend a lot of time thinking about it. We spend time thinking about what services we can offer, all the investment and equipment needed, marketing, and even the lifestyle owning a company would bring. However thinking about all these things and planning an 'official' launch tends to make the whole venture daunting and sometimes causes us to keep pushing it off.

The solution? Start small

Start thinking you are already in business and work with what you have. Starting small and just doing odd jobs that relate to your bigger business plan would help you take the first plunge into the world of entrepreneurship. Slowly you would start to see your company becoming more of a reality rather than a distant dream, allowing the company to grow organically. Who knows it might even take your idea down a different path your originally planned. There are a number of benefits to this type of start up, lower financial risk, quicker start up, and better customer knowledge. In my next blogs I would go on to shortly explain each benefit.