Messages

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Tourism Trends / Improve food and beverage safety

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:20:46 PM »

Improve food and beverage safety
Taking adequate food safety measures is not only an important part of providing quality food and beverage products for the end consumer, but it also plays a vital role in maintaining compliance. Different food regulation organizations and governmental agencies across the world are starting to require more detailed monitoring and record-keeping to ensure consistent food safety. IoT-enabled food and beverage solutions help companies remain compliant while providing the best quality products:

Track food in transit to ensure transportation conditions do not impact food safety or quality of final product.
Provide more detailed and accurate record-keeping on how food is produced, manufactured, transported, and stored.
Use sensors to monitor temperatures in containers to ensure that food products are being safety stored.
Trigger staff to perform and verify required food safety inspections when data gathered from sensors suggests potential issues or violations

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Tourism Trends / Simplify operations and boost efficiency

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:20:23 PM »

Simplify operations and boost efficiency
IoT-enabled solutions provide a variety of logistical benefits for food and beverage companies. Connected devices can help organizations in the food and beverage manufacturing industry improve efficiency and enhance business processes while also working to prevent machine downtime and other costly issues:

Use sensors to retrieve real-time data that allows you to track inventory, indicate when replenishment is needed, and trigger automatic shipments.
Monitor and track shipments, planning alternative routes to ensure that products are delivered on time.
Remotely monitor the conditions of containers and other vessels to ensure quality and safety of the final product.
Get alerts on machine maintenance and repair issues to maintain operational efficiency and prevent costly malfunctions.

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Tourism Trends / Improve food quality, operational efficiency, and compliance

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:19:49 PM »

Improve food quality, operational efficiency, and compliance
Companies in the food and beverage industries face unique challenges as they often experience harsh production environments and strict regulatory requirements. The Internet of Things (IoT) helps food and beverage companies gain greater visibility over their manufacturing, production, and transportation processes to provide higher quality products for end consumers while maintaining operational efficiency and remaining compliant with governmental regulations.

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Tourism Trends / OCCUPANCY SENSING IMPROVES HOSPITALITY

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:16:12 PM »

The hospitality industry is embracing energy management as a way to compete and ultimately deliver the best value to their customers. Meanwhile, the balance between guest comfort and operational efficiency is becoming more challenging than ever before. Hotels are understanding that it’s impossible to obtain significant energy savings and an enhanced guest experience without accurately detecting occupancy in the guest room. A comprehensive occupancy sensing strategy is necessary to realize the full benefits of an energy management system.

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Tourism Trends / What about the downsides of hospitality IoT?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:15:08 PM »

What about the downsides of hospitality IoT?
It’s true that connecting devices online introduces enormous efficiencies for the hospitality industry. But it also introduces threats like cyber attacks and security breaches.

Each device incorporated into a hotel’s digital infrastructure can be exploited by hackers. These hackers can use their access to hold a hotel’s systems hostage (and demand a ransom) or jeopardize the security and comfort of guests by playing with building controls.

These possibilities shouldn’t lead hotels to fear IoT in hospitality. It’s the way of the future and unavoidable. Rather, it should push hotel executives to think about how they can take advantage of the immense benefits of IoT in hospitality and get ahead of vulnerabilities.

Today, the IoT opportunities for hotels can elevate the guest experience. Hotels that incorporate IoT into their establishments will have a leg up on the competition.

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Tourism Trends / for hotel guests, IoT creates a seamless visit

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:13:13 PM »

For hotel guests, IoT creates a seamless visit
For guests, IoT in their accommodations makes for a more comfortable and customized stay. Guests might stay in automated rooms where they can adjust the lights or call the front desk from their beds via their TV or mobile device.

And speaking of mobile devices, hospitality can be more integrated with guests’ personal gadgets thanks to IoT. Guests can check into a hotel and unlock their room via their mobile device, providing a seamless hospitality experience.

Moreover, mobile integration gives you data (with the guests’ permission) that lets you remember guest preferences. Hoteliers can take it a step further and customize their reservation based on previous stays

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Tourism Trends / What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:12:04 PM »

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the phrase used to refer to the inclusion of internet connectivity within everyday devices and appliances that have not typically had such capabilities. Examples of these devices might range from thermostats and energy meters, through to vehicles and large machines.

Essentially, it can turn those devices or appliances into ‘smart’ objects, which are capable of both sending and receiving data and communicating with each other. This can improve data collection, increase levels of automation and allow for multiple devices to be controlled or monitored from one centralised place, such as a phone or tablet.

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Tourism & Hospitality Management (THM) / IS TRAVEL A RIGHT? – THE CONCEPT OF RIGHT, & WHEN IT’S JUST WRONG

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:10:56 PM »

IS TRAVEL A RIGHT? – THE CONCEPT OF RIGHT, & WHEN IT’S JUST WRONG

‘I know my rights’ is a well used phrase in the legal and commercial world, and it is now making regular appearances in discussions about tourism and, in particular, overtourism. When tourists are informed that damage to streets, parks, mountains, ancient sites or beaches are leading to a forced restriction on visitor numbers, or indeed a tourist tax, ‘we all have a right to travel’ is the most commonly used protest line. You can print it on as many holiday t-shirts as you like, but at Responsible Travel, we don’t completely agree.

Of course we value travel. We sell holidays, after all, but we are working hard to get our heads around this ‘rights’ issue. It is a complex concept; however, it is one that is worth exploring to understand this belief by many that we all have a right to travel. Certainly, the residents of Venice, Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and cruise ship destinations from Santorini to Skye, don’t agree. They are understandably shouting “what about my rights?” as their streets get ruined, water resources usurped and air polluted by giant cruise liners with thousands of tourists arriving en masse.

Philosophers, theologians and politicians dating back to the Greeks and Romans have made an important differentiation between natural rights and legal rights. Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws of a culture, community or government. They are sometimes, therefore, described as universal or inalienable. Legal rights are those put in place by a legal system. In tourism, these two concepts can often be confused and also lead to conflict. The US government’s Executive Order in January 2017 ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States’ was probably the most shocking example of this.

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Tourism Trends / Overtourism’s impact on Venice

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:09:47 PM »

Overtourism’s impact on Venice
Obviously, life for those remaining local residents is impaired by this influx of day trippers and tourists. On any given day, they are forced to negotiate crowds and put up with noisy wheelie suitcases, selfie sticks and often disrespectful behaviour – swimming in canals, picnicking on bridges – as they try to go about their daily lives. They see the city they love being littered; they watch vast cruise ships chug up and down the Giudecca Canal four or five times a day, emitting fumes before disgorging thousands of people; and they reflect on how the artisan spirit of the city has been eroded.

Overtourism’s impact stretches way beyond quality of life, though. With time, overtourism changes the balance of economic incentives for a whole range of businesses that are important in defining the character of a city. The food, the goods in shops, even the music being played in bars all lean towards the tourist taste, and increasingly fail to cater for

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Tourism Trends / What’s behind overtourism in Venice?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:09:17 PM »

What’s behind overtourism in Venice?
Overtourism boils down to the simple fact of too many people visiting the same place at the same time and Venice is, sadly, a prime example. Some 20 million visitors flood in each year; on its busiest days, around 120,000 people visit this city which is home to just 55,000 permanent residents [1]. Many of these tourists stick to the famous landmarks – the Rialto Bridge, St Mark’s Square – further concentrating numbers into a tiny footprint. This damages Venice’s fragile buildings, strains its infrastructure, inhibits local people from going about their business and, frankly, makes for a woeful visitor experience, too. Nobody benefits, not even the tourists.

The reasons behind overtourism in Venice are complex and manifold, and you can read more about the overtourism phenomenon here. Many of the same issues crop up in Venice as in Barcelona, Reykjavik or Dubrovnik – the rapid growth of low cost aviation, cruise ships and peer-to-peer home sharing platforms are all guilty parties. The rise of the day tripper is a huge problem, too. Ironically, no one seems to dedicate time to seeing this timeless city. Of the 20 million people who come to Venice each year, only half sleep here, which is why hotel stays have dropped by two thirds over the past 25 years. Many have poured off a cruise ship – on some days as many as 44,000 cruise passengers come to the city – or are on a whirlwind tour of Italy. Some stay for just a few hours, see little, buy a few trinkets and leave. They bring no economic benefit to the city in this way.

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Tourism Trends / WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OVERTOURISM?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:06:27 PM »

e are all responsible for overtourism. We all need to own it

It’s a big word, ‘responsible’. So big that many people advised us against using it when we came up with the name of our company, Responsible Travel. But the reason we chose it is because it highlights the fundamental principle that we aim to adhere to. We are all responsible for the world we travel in. From grassroots to government, airlines to cruise lines, skiers to sailors, we all have a responsibility to travel in a way that benefits the places we visit. This is a flag we have been flying for a long time, and we can’t help but be struck by the fact that the R-word is now becoming common place when it comes to tourism. Except this time it is being used to find someone to blame for the ever growing issue of overtourism. Who is responsible? Whom can we blame? Tourists are trash, say the protestors in Barcelona. Airlines are evil, says the green movement. Governments don’t get it, say local communities. In debating this issue further, we want to take you back to basics. Which is to say, we are all responsible for overtourism. Think of the R-word as the OUR word. We all need to own it.

So, in no particular order, let’s look at the major players in tourism who have contributed to overtourism:

Responsible Travel

At Responsible Travel we work hard to avoid overtourism but have to accept that we too can be part of the problem. However, we believe that we offer holidays that support local people, we take people off the beaten path and we strive to leave as little impact on the local culture or environment as possible. We endeavour to keep the other R-word, ‘respect’, at the core of what we do. In our travel guides we always highlight the peak times in certain destinations, warning about massive cruise ship crowds and so on. But we could do better. Should we be sending tourists to problem areas such as Dubrovnik or Reykjavik during peak season at all, for example? That is something that is undoubtedly worthy of debate, although it is often difficult to avoid overtourism hotspots when trying to access the quieter ones. And of course, we also feel for some families who have no choice but to travel in peak time due to school holidays, but we try to recommend itineraries that minimise time spent in the busiest places when we can.

The free loaders
Harsh, we know, but sometimes we need to wake people up to reality: tourism is one big freeloading industry. Travel companies (and we have already put our hands up to this one) have profited from creating pretty packages of culture and coast, lifestyles and landscapes. We don’t pay for the sight of a French farmer selling his garlic at the local market; we often don’t even buy from him. Instead, we like to take photos and feel satisfied by the fact that we have had an ‘authentic experience’. For free. Meanwhile, Monsieur has to pay more for his market stall, parking and local tax.

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Tourism Trends / Conservation, culture & conflict

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:05:12 PM »

Conservation, culture & conflict
Other populations have of course suffered during the development of the tourism industry. During the late 19th century huge swathes of land were forcibly taken from native populations in the United States and Canada and turned into protected national reserves in the name of both conservation and tourism, leading to violent resistance in some cases. In 1877, for example, an incident known as the Nez Perce War saw fierce battles between members of the Nez Perce tribe and federal soldiers, including one in Yellowstone National Park that led to the death of a tourist and the injury of several others 6. These kinds of clashes are far from ‘historical’; almost a century later, the Maasai faced displacement as Kenya’s national parks were established in the 1960s. In the 21st century, conflicts continue as native peoples are evicted, harassed and even killed to make way for tourism, from the San in Botswana’s Kalahari Game Reserve, to the Wanniyala-Aetto of Sri Lanka’s central mountains.7

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Tourism Trends / A new problem in New England

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:04:53 PM »

A new problem in New England
Across the Atlantic, coastal areas of the US such as Maine saw tourism increase dramatically after the end of the Civil War, and then with greater speed after the advent of the railway when visitors would pour in from cities along with East Coast. Middle class vacationers transformed the coastal landscape, and developers built huge hotels and holiday homes, leading to the gradual displacement of maritime families. Because traditional industries were in decline across the New England coastline, local families were forced to sell their land to wealthier seasonal residents or developers, and many took jobs as cooks, gardeners and servants for holidaymakers. In some towns, the summer influx was larger than the year round population4.

At around the same time, Niagara Falls was swiftly becoming the country’s most popular attraction, so much so that tourists began to grumble about overdevelopment at the site. As far back as the 1830s, there were complaints that the landscape around the falls was being spoilt by the sheer number of visitors, and by the mid 19th century, the number of shops, photographers and aggressive guides were, according to some, ruining the experience. This was exacerbated following the Civil War when cheaper train fares made the falls even more accessible, and visitor numbers rose from around 20,000 a year in 1838 to 80,000 a year in 18505

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Tourism Trends / What else can be done?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:03:17 PM »

What else can be done?
As tourists we can ensure our own behaviour is as beneficial as possible, but to really effect change across the industry, and around the world, things need to happen at a much higher level. Governments and local authorities need to look at ways to control tourist numbers – whether by raising prices, issuing permits to certain attractions, banning cruise ships over a certain size, or having greater control over which businesses open and where.

All the while that increasing numbers remains the goal of tourist boards and other tourism bodies such as the UNWTO, this will not happen. But as soon as the focus shifts away from this, we can really start to tackle some of the industry’s greatest challenges. Overtourism may seem like a new concept, but there are many examples around the world of how it has been successfully avoided, dating back years. Gorilla tracking in East Africa is one such example; just eight permits per day are issued to track each gorilla family, and permit prices range from US $500-$750. Far from causing outcry, tourists view the handful of expensive permits as an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experience. The experience has not been boycotted; permits regularly sell out. Better still, the forests remain intact, and gorilla numbers, which were once threatened, have increased substantially since the introduction of tourism.

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Tourism Trends / What can tourists do to avoid over tourism?

« on: May 30, 2019, 04:02:29 PM »

What can tourists do to avoid over tourism?
Responsible tourism refers to tourism which creates better places for people to live and to visit – with the emphasis on ‘to live’. Therefore, by definition, it is the opposite of overtourism, which diminishes the quality of life for local residents and creates a negative experience for visitors. Overtourism is sometimes simply a case of numbers: there are too many people in a particular place at a particular time. But in some cases, taking a more responsible approach to tourism can mitigate the negative effects.

In these cases, the solution can be to travel as a responsible tourist; to travel in ways which maximise positive impacts and minimise the negative ones. Two things to think about are the place, and think about the time. Spain, Italy, Iceland and Croatia have all been in the news as victims of overtourism, but in each case, this is extremely localised. Barcelona is rammed, and many of its residents are understandably fed up, but Spain is a surprisingly large country, and many of its cities are not at all crowded with tourists. Better still, head out into the villages and mountains for a real glimpse of the country away from the mainstream hordes. Not only will you have a much more realistic insight into daily life in Spain; but in many small pueblos you’ll be eagerly welcomed as one of the few tourists to arrive. There are many places around the globe that need, and want, more tourists.

Of course, if you really do want to meander through the aisles of La Boqueria, then you have no choice but to visit the Catalan capital. But what you can do is to visit it outside of peak season. This is more pleasant for you, less stressful for residents, puts less pressure on things like public transport, and may even save you quite a bit of money, too.

And whenever you travel, try and ensure as much of your cash stays as local as possible. Pay national park entrance fees to ensure your visit supports conservation; stay in locally owned guesthouses; eat at local restaurants and take tours with local guides. Tourism can still be very much a force for good, and ensuring that local residents, habitats and wildlife benefit from your presence is an important part of that.

Travelling responsibly, in smaller numbers, not only helps avoid overtourism. It will give you a greater connection with local people and ways of life: a far more authentic holiday experience.