Mar 23, 2018

Religious Tourism: The success' path!

In the last days have appeared some articles talking about Religious Tourism. There, I highlight two very important ideas in order that your Tourism destination/enterprise become successful in this kind of Tourism. 
You can also apply those ideas in any kind of tourism. Touristology is a science so, principles are always valid! 
In this post, I want to go deeper in those ideas. If you have any doubt… You know where to find me! 
Religious tourism is very important. We have to remember that 300 million Tourists enjoy it, even though, for some of them religion is not the main motivation of the trip, we still have a very import figure! We only have to remember that the total number of Tourists in the entire world is 1.300 million. If you want to visualize this, you can imagine ALL the inhabitants of China moving around the world!!! 
First idea: Create your own platform. I can describe this idea in many ways. Build your own chain of value, define your own digital ecosystem… BUT the important thing is…In order to be successful in Tourism you have to create a direct relationship with your customers. 
In XXI century it is not enough to create religious packages and try to seduce tourists from other enterprises. That is what I mean when I said in these article “We need to be able to generate online religious tourism platforms equivalent to Airbnb” We need to seduce Tourists from around the world and send them around the world. Can you seduce your Tourists to go to your Tourism destination? Of course! Specially, in the space/time that is more convenient for YOUR inhabitants and YOUR Tourism enterprises. 
Just remember, in order to be successful your business must be GLOBAL. Does AirBnB only sell Tourism services from USA to USA’s citizens? Apple has a deal with a big factory in China. This factory builds most of the Apple’s digital devices. Is this factory a LEADER? 
In a nutshell, to follow the success’ path you can use other enterprises social networking sites, use other intermediaries/infomediaries BUT be sure that you have a direct relationship with your customers and that most of the time they use your platform to create and buy your products. 
Remember, YOUR Tourists can also create their own packages, share them with their friends inside your platform, building groups… generating a sense of community, better experiences and more profits for your company!!! 
Second idea: Focus on specialized Tourism! If you are successful, the generic one will follow. 
A) Generic Tourist relate to Religious Tourism can be anyone that during the trip decide to visit a monument or participate in any religious activity. 
B) Specialized Tourism are the Tourist that the main motivation of the trip is to do or visit any religious activity. 
C) Very specialized Tourism are Tourists that want to combine both the benefits that travel provides (international contacts/experiences, a boost of creativity, bonding experiences for professional or family groups…) with the benefits of participate in religious activities (relaxation, find yourself, create and build a sense of community…). 
Can you image a couple near to divorce BUT that they don’t want to do that? Do you think that a trip and participate in religious activities can regenerate a relationship? 
Can you imagine a start-up becoming a big enterprise and feeling that they are losing the sense of community that they had at the beginning? Do you think that a trip and participate in religious activities can build again this community feeling? 
Can you imagine any person in a grieving process? Do you think that a trip and participate in religious activities can help him/her to overcome this process? 
I could go on for a month, but I think I have made my point! I’m NOT important YOU ARE! Waiting for YOUR examples, waiting to see YOU becoming the best minds in the best sector ever!!!

Mar 6, 2018

Talk less and code more!

I’m reading, again, the wonderful book “E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation” by David Bodanis BUT, this time, I’m reading it together with my son. It is a wonderful experience both for the reading and also for sharing it with him.
One of the things that I like to highlight to my son (and that now I want to share with you) is that the book shows how connecting the dots it is so important. People usually think in silos and when we deal with complex problems we need a broader approach.
Electricity and Magnetism are different kinds of Energy… appears Faraday and proof the contrary!
Liquids, gases, solids are different kinds of matter… appears Lavoisier and began a chemical revolution!
Energy and mass no connection whatsoever… appears Einstein and enlighted the world!
- Jordi! When will you begin to talk about OUR science?!?!?!
- Right here, right now, Touristologists!!!

Do you think that Touristology and Web-engineering are two opposed topics?
Do you think that you can implement a good mobile app or website without knowing the business model and the members of the chain of value related to Tourism?
Do you think that Touristology and Web-Engineering are NOT connected? Do you think that, nowadays, people developing software for the Tourism sector have a lack of knowledge of our current business model AND its necessary evolution in order to deal with the new Digital Ecosystem ?
Do you think that experts in Tourism know about how to use the cloud, syndication (web-services, web-scraping) multi-devices platforms (Native app, Hybrids, Responsive web design) in order to connect all the members of the chain of value in an integrated and synchronized way, allowing them to give support to the Tourist from the beginning to the end of the trip?
Do you think that Tourism enterprises/destinations have to use social media? Do you think that they have to follow Alan Kay’s advice "People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware."? I mean, paraphrasing Alan Kay: People (Travel companies) who are really serious about social media should make their own communities. Why does Vail Resorts create EpicMix an international social community of skiers, as we saw here?
Do you think that the 100 million users of Marriot are one of its most important assets? Do you think that Marriot create and manage a social networking site?
Do you think that you have to know how to create and manage international social networking sites using multi-devices platforms, cloud computing, machine learning, augmented reality, blockchain….?
I strongly believe that to be successful you have to be a consilient thinker and learn whatever it takes in order to understand reality and improve it!
Do you want to practice this consilient attitude? Developing software able to connect these sciences? I will be here waiting for you! Dreaming about the future of our beloved sector! Helping my Touristologist to change the way we define, enjoy and manage our beloved sector!
I have MY partners, I have MY Touristologists…I have MY family! All together willing to connect the dots! Loving Touristology! Loving Web-Engineering!