The Da vinci code: Just a book or a Touristologist doing his job!

Normal people just see a book… I see a good Touristologist! But this is just me… or not!?!?

Surely, most of you are familiar with this book (or at least you have watched the movie!!!). Anyway I’m almost sure that after reading this post you will enjoy watching it again, but this time with Touristology glasses on!

1) A little bit of history:

 Let’s summarize the gist of the book. It stands that Jesus and Maria Magdalena get into intimacy and as a result we get a royal dynasty (the Merovigian). It’s supposed the catholic church wasn’t happy with that and for that reason it was necessary to create a brotherhood to protect this dynasty. This brotherhood called “The Prior of Sion” has as members very famous people: Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Leonardo Da Vinci… just to name a few. The last one was Pierre Plantard.

Let’s go back to modern time… In 1891 a priest (Bérenger Saunière ) claimed to have found a treasure in his church belonging to the last Merovigian. Based upon this discovery Gerard de Sede wrote a seminal book “The accursed treasure of Rennes-Le Cháteau” which was followed by other books and finally “The Da vinci Code” by Dan Brown.

Let’s see a visual representation:

2) The scenario: 

For a Touristologist is always important to have a geographical vision. Where is Rennes-le Cháteau? It is in the south of France near Carcassonne.

What does it look like? See the picture below where I circled the Magdalena’s tower.. Does it ring a bell to you? As you can see it’s quite isolate.

 3) Does the book affect the tourism sector? Sure, Tourist guide has appeared following the book, mass travel agencies and specialized ones created routes related to the book and so on.

4) Just a book or a Touristologist doing his job!?!

It was the book the origin of all this OR a Touristologist acting as a magnet to bring tourists? Now it becomes interesting!!! In 1946 Noel Corbu purchased the former estate of the Abbey Berenger Sauniere, the former priest of Rennes-le-Chateau between 1885-1909, and during Easter 1955 he opened a restaurant in the Villa Bethania, later also turned into a Hotel. The hotel itself faced some difficulties due to its fairly isolated location.

He began to explain to newspapers some ghost stories and the occupancy went up… I’m sure, in that moment, He smelt blood and saw the opportunity to do something bigger. To do so, He needed a team…

In 1960 Pierre Plantard went to the hotel. He was always creating secret societies. In 1956 he creates a secret society with a bizarre name “Priory of Sion”. Does it ring a bell to you?

At the same time, the writer Gérard de Sède (uhmm… I’m almost sure this is not the first time this name appears in this post!!!) was also in the hotel… Does it ring a bell to you?

In the hotel also was Philippe de Chérisey a surrealist artist. As a matter of fact he was a follower of Alfred Jarry, the founder of the Surrealist College de Pataphysique which believes that it’s possible to create a parallel reality stronger than real reality! Philippe created a drawing representing the genealogy of Jesus up to present time. They hid this drawing in a public library inside a folder with the name “secret code” An excellent option if you want to keep people away!!!!

So, to me it’s crystal clear!!! A Touristologist, a team, a promotion tool (the book) and a final result: No vacancy and plenty of hotels and restaurants in the area!

I know the usual question from the brightest mind on the class/seminar/training/conference… Must we write a book about Jesus in order to have customers?

When it happens, I start to pray silently “Schumpeter, Carnegie (Dale) and Maslow give me strength, wisdom and PATIENT!!!!!” I repeat this three times and then, calmly, I always reply:

 “It’s an option, but the important thing is to see the forest not the trees. You have to do something in order to transform your business from a commodity to something special, something unique”

What do you think? Are you with me that the most important sector in a country (OUR SECTOR) needs the best minds? Are you with me that Touristology is at least as complicated as any other grade? Are you with me that people only able to mark down the price, unable to look for international markets; unable to search, find and bring tourist from around the world are not Touristologists? 

Back to the Da Vinci Code!  Are we talking about a Super 2, a Super 3 or My own 1,2,3  (more about that here )

Are you willing to practice some growing strategies using the other options (Super 2, Super 3 or my own 1,2,3? It’s up to YOU!!!!