How "Distribution" Hurts Tourism Business
Posted by D'Arcy McKittrick on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 @ 09:23 AM
"How was the trip" I said. "Well, part of it was good, but I wouldn't do it again" she said.
She is my 70+ year old
mother, and the trip was a day excurision by motor coach from her home to the steam train ride in Wakefield Quebec. The good part was the train ride ..."It was really good, I really enjoyed it". The not so good part was the transportation there and back -- the distribution part. "As soon as we got on the the bus they told us we wouldn't have much time for stops as the bus had to be back for another use that night. So we felt rushed all day!"
To me this is a classic case of distribution diminishing a tourism experience and hurting a tourism destination and buisness. Of course, the bus company lost big points as well as my Mother assured me she wouldn't go on trips with that company again -- nor would most of the folks who were on the trip.
On a larger scale, this recent online article -- "Skyway robbery: Fees on top of fees with fees on the side" -- underscores the problem for many destinations and tourism businesses. The traveling part of travel is getting in the way of enjoyable travel, creating an obstacle many destinations need to overcome, namely distribution.
In theory, close partnerships between destinations and transportation providers with shared goals to deliver the best travel experience possible -- from start to finish -- is the answer. And many large (read high visitor volume) destinations may have the leverage to influence transportation providers to the benefit of their visitors. However this option is not available to smaller (read low visitor volume) destinations. Vertical integration, or operating their own transportation services, is not often an option either.
Unless transportation providers understand that they need destinations and their tourism attractions as much as the destinations need them, and that working together to deliver superior visitor experiences is a shared business goal, destinations are vulnerable to the actions of transportation providers no matter how well they market and deliver visitor experiences at the destination. For the sake of the tourism industry, let's hope that such an understanding is not long in coming.