Diversify from Tourism? Open your mind! Learn Touristology!

 I’m fed up with “experts_of_anything_but_Tourism” saying all day long…
- It is bad for a country to be specialized in Tourism! They have to diversify its economy!
Diversify from Tourism? It is much better if you open your mind!
Tourism is excellent for Tourism companies (specially, if they try to manage all the chain of value, of course!) BUT ALSO, Tourism creates synergies with any other sector of the economy with interest in internationalization AND related to Tourists’ motivation to Travel!
What better way of internationalizing any economy’s sector that seduce people around the world related to THIS sector?
Wine? Food? Seduce experts (and wannabes) sommeliers from around the world!
Architecture? Seduce experts (and wannabes) architects from around the world!
Games? Seduce players and Game Developers from around the world…
I could go on for a month, but I think I have made my point!

Maybe, we can go deeper and practice a little bit of Yield Management!
If we have a specialized community, one specific day, in our Tourism Enterprise / Destination we transform our place into a magnet for members of this community, member of the chain of value, competitors (that will become collaborators!), people/enterprises willing to sell, to hire, to do marketing research... to OUR community. We will become the “This Community” world congress!!!
All these opportunities that Tourism brings are not only for countries, also for enterprises!
The other day, a bunch of brilliant Touristologists (Christian Emunds, Nicolle Hernandez Yarleque, Marta Martínez Rodríguez, Isabel Molina Muñoz, Lara-Sophie Piroth, Leoni Strommenger) made an excellent presentation about how Netflix can diversify their revenues offering cruises for GROUPS of their own customers!
As usual, they enlightened me, the rest of the class, and students from other grades…providing examples of Specialized Segments related to this company. 

I love helping to build the best minds for the best sector ever!
I love to see how they can apply Touristology’s principles to other sectors!
I love Touristology!!!
 

Connecting the dots: Photogrammetry, Computer Vision...Touristology!

 You can enjoy watching the following videos, Touristologists!!!
JUMP is a very good example of an immersive experience!

Can you visualize how to combine it with members of  their community in the REAL scenario?
Welcome to Hybrid Experiences in the Metaverse!
Welcome to the possibility of breaking Space/Time prison
- BUT…Jordi! To reproduce this scene is very difficult! To seduce Tourists to do activities together is very difficult! To…
- STOP making excuses! Open your mind! Become a Touristologists!!!
Artificial Intelligence can help us to reproduce any scene with a lower cost and faster time!
Enjoy this video where Rene Schulte says the sentence of the year!
Generative #AI creating 3D models “like when photography came along right like painters were basically saying, oh they are cheating”

Enjoy this video to learn a little bit about NeRF!

You as a Touristologists (the best minds in the best sector ever) can create, communicate, and commercialize Hybrid Experiences for GROUPS inside Specialized Segments!
If not you.. Who?
If not now.. When?

Touristologists…Learn to code!!!

I began to be a Touristologists builder 30 years ago.
I have always loved to combine Touristology and New Technologies (two hands, remember?)  

I, strongly, believe that being able to code, help US to visualize in a much better way New Business Models for OUR beloved sector! 

It also allows you to implement these Business Models inside Operations and Processes of Tourism Destinations/Enterprises!

For instance, to know Touristology and be able to code allows you to avoid being one of the
people that make me tweet
“The same people/approach that said in 1996
- Let’s create a website and forget about the 'Brick and mortar'
In 2022 are saying
- Let’s create a/the #Metaverse forget about Real-Life.
#HybridExperiences then, now, always!!!”
By the way, in 2003 they said we need a “Second Life”!

In 1996, it was all about Internet. Websites connecting to Data Bases. Java as a programming language. Artificial Intelligence to transform information into knowledge…
In 2007, we had to add how to code Mobile Apps into our toolbox. Java for the Android Ecosystem, Swift for the iOS one! A little bit of Flutter trying to reuse the famous Java sentence “Write Once Run Anywhere”
In 2014, it was the beginning of Internet 3D, Augmented/Virtual Reality (the Metaverse): Games Engines (Godot, Fyrox, Bevy…). Rust as a programming language. Blockchain adding TRUST. Artificial Intelligence also transforming 2D images into 3D Scenes!
In 2022, the connection between Tourism and New Technologies is stronger than ever!

We have the possibility to break Space/Time prison offering Hybrid Experiences that Tourists and Inhabitants Here / Now can enjoy with members of their Community Around_The_World / At_Any_Time. 

We can enjoy theses Hybrid Experiences Before, During and After the Trip!

 
As Michael Black tweet few days ago…
“The #metaverse is not a video game. It’s a blurring of the boundary between our physical and digital selves. It’s about putting the real world into the digital and putting the digital into the real world.”
In the same tweet, He added…
“Capturing, understanding, and modeling humans, their interactions with each other and the world will not only unlock the metaverse. It will enable new forms of e-commerce, improve our health, support us as we age, & provide a foundation for disruptive and creative new businesses”
All began in 2014, when Mark Zuckerberg fell in love with Virtual Reality experiencing Tourism to a villa in Tuscany, Italy. Virtual Reality is important BUT you have to combine it!
In 2023 some users of Horizon Worlds will also use a web browser or Zoom
Welcome to #HybridExperiencies!
Touristology provide to US tools to manage Space/Time related to services where the Customer has an active participation in the creation of it (Servuction, Yield Management). 

Using OUR coding skills, we can create OUR own Metaverse’s platforms (instead of using other people’s ones!!!).
Using OUR Touristology’s skills, we can define, build and seduce OUR own Specialized Segments.
Time to be leaders and NOT followers!
Time to be Touristologists!!!

Making the most of The Metaverse in Tourism!

Nowadays, there is a tendency in Tourism Destinations highlighting the importance of being “there”.
You can enjoy this video from Visit Sweden

 

They have created a storytelling experience only available there. A geo-restricted transformational journey… in times of the Metaverse that will be created to overcome Space/Time prison!
It seems as they are afraid of (or against) the Metaverse. They visualize the Metaverse as Virtual Reality… a different new world, and they have nightmares of Tourists not travelling to their wonderful Tourism Destination/Enterprise.
It recalls me, when I was in Peru and they were afraid that USA create a thematic park representing the Machu Pichu. I say to you the same that I said to them. A thematic park representing the Machu Pichu is an excellent promotion!

In the same way, to create YOUR Metaverse platform representing your Tourism Destination/Enterprise can be an excellent way of promotion! BUT… not only that! The Metaverse can also make possible hybrid experiences between Tourists, inhabitants, and local enterprises HERE/NOW and members of their community AROUND_THE_WORLD/AT_ANY_TIME which is a source of new revenues stream and also an increase of the sustainability of your Tourism Destination/Enterprise.
It is also a pity that…

1) They don’t practice a little bit of #Segmentation (Future writers, 3G Family, Environmentalists…) and get, as extra benefits, Groups Creation and the possibility to create, communicate and commercialize International Routes.
2) They don’t allow to share a transformative experience NOW with the one enjoyed by a Tourist that was there in the past.
Again, breaking Space/Time prison is the name of the game!!!
By the way, in order to add TRUST. To be sure about the real identity of the Avatar/Hologram with whom you are sharing the experience…Blockchain to the rescue! 

 

OR a Hybrid Experience NOW for people in different Space, like a wedding 

 

“…the couple was physically present at a real-world hotel venue along with some guests, their digital avatars were also present within The Sandbox metaverse and could be seen by guests who joined remotely. The event was officiated by The Sandbox co-founder and chief operations officer Sebastien Borget in a digital avatar form.”
There is plenty of room for improving 3D scenes using #AI in Real Time
BUT… It is another good example of breaking Space/Time prison!!! 

Maybe, in order to overcome their fears and visualize the new Business Models of the Metaverse they need advice from the best minds in the best sector ever!
Just remember, Touristologists!
The Metaverse is not a “Thing” is not a “Definition” ...
It is the process of manage, in a more efficient way, Space/Time. And We, as a Touristologists, are masters and commanders of the tools that Touristology provides in order to manage Space/Time: Servuction, Yield Management…
What are you doing TODAY with actual technology to try to break Space/Time prison?
How are you trying to share the transformative power of a trip HERE/NOW with members of a community AROUND_THE_WORLD/AT_ANY_TIME?
 

Twelve years ago…

Twelve years ago, I began this OUR blog to talk about Touristology OUR Science.
I love to share Touristology’s principles around the world! Remember Touristologists…The world is OUR office!
Touristology’s principles helps us to analyze and visualize new business models and then implement them inside the operations and processes of our beloved sector. 

Of course, using the RIGHT technology (not the fancier one, not the flavour of the month…)
Let’s practice OUR Touristology’s principles, Touristologists!
Remember, if you don’t practice them… they will get rusty (I love Rust, but this is from another post!!!
1) A few days ago, everybody was talking about Starbucks using Blockchain
Here, we have a post of Polygon (a layer 2 solution in top of Ethereum)
“Today, we are thrilled to announce that Starbucks Coffee Company is working with Polygon to provide the blockchain technology to build its recently announced Web3 experience, Starbucks Odyssey.”
Here, an article from Techcrunch
You must be sure of using an expensive technology, like Blockchain, only if you use its innovative/different features!
Blockchain can improve a Loyalty Program and build a better community IF you are dealing with a DYNAMIC (new enterprises, suppliers, intermediaries, infomediaries…) and INTERNATIONAL (from different countries) chain of value. In this scenario, Blockchain provide Trustfulness that allow customers to get points/rewards using three innovative and different features
A) Sharing Identity with privacy: You can add new international members in the chain of value where the customers get a customized #Servuction only sharing the identity information needed in “this” specific transaction and for the time it is needed.
B) Shared Ownership: The possibility of sharing the ownership of an asset/enterprise. It could be a percentage of the revenues of OUR Tourism enterprise! So, every time that the Tourists makes a reservation or seduce somebody (or a GROUP that He/She creates!) to appear in OUR enterprise/chain of value member, automatically gets a percentage of profits in tokens format.
All trustable, all fast, all in real-time!

C) Customized Micro-payments in Real-Time. Using #NFT (nowadays people prefer to call them Dynamic NFT) you/Tourists can create dynamic packages which personalize the #Servuction during ALL the trip(s) in any company of the Chain of Value, depending on the moods of the Tourist and the people next to the customer in each moment, during the trip or at your enterprise OR in the Metaverse.
So, is the world’s largest coffee brand using Blockchain to take their already powerful rewards program to the next level?

Starbucks is using Blockchain to do traceability able to guarantee the quality of their coffees. This is an excellent example of using the important features of Blockchain!
By the way, “these NFTs will be bought using a credit or debit card — a crypto wallet is not required. The company believes this will make it easier for consumers to engage with the web3 experience by lowering the barrier to entry.”

2) In which way your enterprise can use Blockchain and seduce DYNAMIC and INTERNATIONAL members of your chain of value to use it? What do you do to remain competitive in front of the Big Players?
Shh… don’t say it to nobody, the answer is…
A) Using the innovative/different features that Blockchain provides
B) To focus on specialized segments that require a level of implication and relationships that big players are not interested in achieve BUT small and middle enterprises can, thanks to  Pro_Am ideas and Deeper Segmentation!!!

3) Is it possible to use Blockchain to improve the Servuction and Yield Management processes in International Routes?
Starbucks also offer trips as a rewards in the Loyalty Program,  to its Hacienda Alsacia Visitor Center, located on the grounds of its Costa Rican coffee farm.
Interesting possibility to create International Routes focus on specialized segments! But to do that… they, definitely, will need the best minds in the best sector ever! 

Opportunities for MY Touristologists!!!

Twelve years ago, I began this OUR blog in memory of an eternal Touristologists who always defended that Touristology is a Science....OUR Science!
The fight goes on!

Today, yesterday…Tomorrow! Tourism and Internet!

The best years of my professional life have been linked to the best sector ever (Tourism, of course!) and Internet.

30 years ago, I taught my first class in Touristology.

I soon realize that my students in their last year knew more about Tourism than myself. I put all my energy and effort to change that! I learn from my students (I still do!), I learn from other teachers, I become a regular in the library, I talk with any professional related with Tourism… The more I learn the more I wanted to become a Touristologist! I knew that the best way to learn something is to teach it. So, I got voluntary to teach any subject: Financial Maths, Business Administration, Statistics, Technology, Economy, Entrepreneurship… anything BUT with always ending up “TO TOURISM”. After two years I was absolutely in love with Touristology. When I decided to do my PhD. I chose as a topic … Touristology, what else!!! 

At that time, everybody was talking about Internet. So, I tried (I still do!) to see how new technologies could improve our beloved sector. How new technologies open the door to new business models and then, how to implement them improving operations and processes of Tourism enterprises and destination….

Soon, I realized that in order to fully understand the potential of Internet and visualize new business model I had to learn how to code Internet apps, how to store information, how to transform this information into knowledge using Artificial Intelligence.

Today, this vision is the same, I try to highlight this evolution in this animated gif. I hope you like it.

 

As you see, there are similar things…

1) Browser: Build your own Ecosystem!

Java (JVM) Applets...

Rust Wasm

2) Neural Networks need memory, need context…

3) Dynamic Packaging in Tourism

In the 90s, Tourism destinations/enterprises began to create webpages (plenty of them, just uploading its brochure on it!)

Forget about customization of the service (Servuction)!

Forget about offering services from other companies related to the trip or its motivation!

Do I have to highlight again the importance of understanding new technologies in order to visualize new business models and know how to manage its implementation?

Nowadays is the same just different technology (that we have to know when to use it!)

You can call it Databases, Web Services; Web Scraping……

You can call it Blockchain/NFT, Stream Processing…

Biggest Difference between Internet in 1994 and 2022?

Ubiquitous computing / Metaverse breaking Space/Time prison!

Metaverse will open the possibility to Humans to be more similar to a God. We can be a little bit out of SPACE/TIME prison.

In the Metaverse, we can share an experience with our friends, relatives, members of our community even if they are in a different SPACE/TIME. We can be Tourists in one Tourism Destination and the others can be around the world… 

So, we can break SPACE.

What about the TIME? We can share an experience and rewind it at any moment!

If you want to be more specific…

1) Thanks to Artificial Intelligence providing scalability and transforming 2D images in 3D scenes ready to appear in hybrid experiences in the Metaverse!

2) Thanks to Blockchain providing trustfulness about the desires and rights of all the members of the chain of value in real-time.

If somebody, ask you who is better prepared to deal with the #Metaverse… just listen to your inner #Touristology’s voice…

The #Metaverse is OUR place #Touristologists!!!

 

They are still here!!!

I began this blog with an homage to all the people with a lack of knowledge about Tourism and responsibility over it.

(By the way, the post was written mixing Spanish, Catalan and English… I love mixtures!)

They are still here; they are very powerful… if we want TOURISTOLOGY to become the best Science ever! If we want Touristology to be the driver of increasing add value of our beloved sector…we have to say goodbye to them... the homage didn’t work!!!

Long time ago, I enjoyed practicing a little bit of “Bleisure” in Peru. I gave some classes in the morning in different Universities. Some consultancy projects the rest of the day… Some visits to wonderful places…

I was perplexed, when I discovered that in some Universities of Tourism, in the subject of Geography they taught the geography of Spain! Why? Maybe, some copied the subjects from Spanish Universities… maybe….

Nowadays, I have the same feeling when I saw Universities of Tourism that just teach how to manage Tourists when they are in the Tourism Destination or Enterprise. 

Forget about managing all the trip!

Forget about understanding and building a Chain of Value! Forget about offering International Routes!

Forget about TOURISTOLOGY!!! 

WHY? 

Maybe, because some people don’t know about how to create and manage trips…

Maybe, because they don’t believe that Tourists can improve their personal/professional life through a trip meanwhile they also increase the profit and wages of local enterprises and take care of local culture and heritage.

Maybe, because they like to say that Tourism is a low-level Grade in the University.

Maybe, because they think that to teach Tourism you only need to be an expert in another Science and provide some examples about Hotels, or Tourism Destinations…

Maybe, because they like, so much, to say that Tourism is a low add value sector.

Is it so difficult to see that almost any sector in the world is low value IF YOU DON’T CONTROL THE CHAIN OF VALUE and you are focus on customers low price orientated?!?!?! Is it so difficult to understand that Generic and Specialized Tourism have different chains of value?

Maybe, because some people don’t believe that Touristology is a Science…

All these experiences arousal in my a very interesting question… What is the criteria to select the subjects, the teachers, the competencies, the concepts, the language of the subject, the necessity to teach how to code to the future of Touristology????

As always, Ferreter and Mora can help us to make a good consideration… “extremes are not for situating yourself they are for knowing your situation” Let’s see the two extremes

We want to help to create minds able to improve our beloved sector… Or we just want to get temporally happy students?

Can you imagine in HEALTH… the important thing is to have HAPPY CUSTOMERS?

Obviously, in health the important thing is to be healthy!!!

The same in EDUCATION. The important thing is that they learn USEFUL things that allow them to understand reality and be able to improve our beloved sector!!!

The battle is going on my fellow Touristologists!

Be aware, be ready! Be the best minds in the best sector ever!!!