From BlockPAIN to BlockGAIN

I love to share my experiences both, as a developer and as entrepreneur (In a single word…as a Touristologists!!!) related to how to use new technologies to improve profitability and sustainability of Tourism enterprises/Destinations or any other sector related to Servuction. 

The other day, I was talking about one of our favorite Technologies…Blockchain and, as always, appeared an exceptional opportunities finder formulating this interesting question (meanwhile, the excuses finders where in another level…the low one!) 

- “Jordi, when do you recommend using Blockchain instead of a regular Data Base? 

- As our intellectual friend Ferrater I Mora love to say…It depends! 

1) If you want to improve the connection between the Website/Mobile_App/Virtual_Reality_App… of different enterprises allowing them to work as a single ecosystem ( You know how much we love Syndication!!!) and all the members of this chain of value TRUST each other then, a regular Data Base it is usually better to avoid the BlockPAIN (you will need more time and cost to create something that is similar to what you get using a regular Data Base) 

BUT… 

2) If you are able to visualize and implement the new and very exciting features that Blockchain can provide then, you must use Blockchain and pass from BlockPAIN to BlockGAIN!!! 

- “Jordi, do you mean the features that you always share with us? 

A) Sharing Identity with privacy: You can add new international members in the chain of value where the customers will 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 or any 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. Here you can enjoy a graphical summary…

Tourists could be (If they want!) sensors in movement (as Touristologistly, we love to say..IoT? Internet of Tourists!!!) We will know the Location/Proximity of the Tourists and members of their community. We will know their “Versions of Me”. We will know the Yield Management situation of local enterprises near to them using Kafka Streams (or any Stream Processing Software) using PUSH and PULL queries. 
It sounds to plenty of new revenue streams/gains for everyone, to me! 

I love to share my experiences in OUR seminars, in-company training or star-ups meetings in order to define (or redefine!) their (OUR???) business model!
I love to share them in OUR blog! 

The blog of the ones that felt in love with Touristology!!!

It is always a good moment to apply Touristology to any sector!

As you know, with the knowledge we got managing Tourism (#Servuction, #YieldManagement, #NewTechnologies…)
1) We can improve other sectors of the economy (Health, Education, Video Games…)
2) We can provide synergies with other sectors of the economy related to the motivation of #Travel of #Tourists whose we define, seduce and manage ALL the trip.
Let’s see if we can put an actual example of improving other sectors! 

The other day, I was watching the news in the national television of Catalonia. They explained that the owners of the pigs are NOT the farmers (80% are in this situation).

The pigs are provided from an external company (“Empresa Integradora”) which control and supply the pigs and also manage the enterprise which transform the pigs into food. The slaughterhouse. (“Escorxador” in my beautiful mother tongue!)

Excellent example of control of the Chain of Value!!!

Farmers of the world, you have to try to manage all the enterprises! You have to try to have a direct connection with your customers. Otherwise, other enterprises will try to do it for you, keeping the profit and letting the risk on your hands. In the same way, that big intermediaries in Tourism manage all the trip and for that reason keep most of the profit and none of the bad consequences (all Tourists at the same place/time, low profit and wages for local enterprises, unhappy inhabitants…).

We say to you the same, that we say to local enterprises and Tourism destinations!

1) Seduce your own Segments (Customers with different motivations, in this case, related to Food and Beverage)

2) Build your own customized services/products to them

3) Do the distribution yourself

The name of the game? My Own 1,2,3!

Prove to the world and to yourself that using Touristology’s knowledge you can increase the sustainability and profitability of any sector of the economy!

Don’t stop there!

Don’t focus on YOUR service/products. Let me clarify this once and for all… your business it is not ONLY to sell rooms, food and beverage and meeting spaces OR PIGS IN YOUR CASE. Your business is to satisfy your customer, providing what they need, when they need it, in the way they need it! In this way, the tourists/customers will choose you, as THE accommodation/Food provider, OR even better, as my-trusted-partner-in-all-I-need-during-this-trip. On the other hand, you will increase your profits. This is what Yield/Revenue Management is all about!!!

Definitely, don’t stop there! 

Build your own PLATFORM and try to seduce member of your segments from around the world!!!

In 19th century rich/powerful people controlled the land as a way to get profits and rents.

Then, the Industrial Revolution appears, and the powerful ones were the owners of the Capital (I mean, the owners of the production means, factories, machines…).

Nowadays, the power will be into the hands of the owners of platforms or digital ecosystems that customers use and TRUST.

Do you need land? I own it!

Do you need factories, machines…? I own them!

Do you need platform, digital ecosystem OR CHAIN OF VALUE giving support from the beginning to the end of the trip….? I own/manage it!

Farmers, Hoteliers, Tourism destinations using these platforms are like “proletariat” working for “bourgeois” and getting a low salary /profit.

Do you know the VERY GOOD NEWS??? The new reality that platform economy creates, that was almost impossible in land or factory economy? YOU can be a winner! Using your skills as a Touristologists, YOU can create your own platform to seduce specialized segments related to international communities which have necessities better satisfied during a trip. 

If you feel that this is your call… I’ll be here waiting for YOU!

 

Monoculture? Diversify?.....Lack of Touristology!!!

Lately, appear some people talking about the necessity to diversify from our beloved sector. To avoid be trapped in the monoculture of Tourism.
I shared my opinion in Twitter (Sorry, Elon!)

Synergies with other sectors of the economy? This is a competence that any Touristologists has carved into his/her mind!!!

Can you imagine a writer…saying that we have to diversify from reading??? …saying that ALL literature is the same????
Monoculture of Tourism??? If you look to the dictionary, Monoculture “the cultivation of a single crop in a given area” a question appears…Is it farming a monoculture??? Of course NOT!
The same with Tourism! YOUR problem is because you think that all the Tourists are the same!
As in farming, you have to select the best crop (Segment of Tourists) for your environment, resources and market conditions. 
Tourism is NOT a monoculture. To only “cultivate” mass Tourism which foreign enterprises managing all the trip and for that reason keeping most of the profit and none of the bad consequences (all Tourists at the same place/time, unhappy inhabitants)…IT IS a monoculture!
Diversify from Tourism? NO! 
Diversify from THIS kind of Tourism. Focus on specialized segments, inside of which you (or help them to help you, PRO-AM, remember?) can create GROUPS that will appear in local enterprises when is more convenient to them and to you (Yield Management, remember?).
Groups that love to be together even if some of the members are in your Tourism Destination and the others are around the world (Hybrid Experiences, remember?)
AND…

Who is able to detect, seduce, manage all the trip (providing opportunities to the Tourists, members of their international community around the world, local enterprises, inhabitants…) increasing the profitability and sustainability of Tourism?
Finally, a question that I LOVE to answer!!!
Touristologists! The best minds in the best sector ever!!!
Tourism is NOT a low add value sector!
Your vision of Tourism add low value!
Instead of saying that with the knowledge we got managing Tourism (#Servuction, #YieldManagement, #NewTechnologies…)
1) We can improve other sectors of the economy (Health, Education, Video Games…)
2) We can provide synergies with other sectors of the economy related to the motivation of #Travel of #Tourists whose we define, seduce and manage ALL the trip. #TravelManagement

Matthew effect AND building giants with feet of clay!

We love to CREATE and use AI! We are not afraid that it becomes conscious!  BUT…We have to be sure that we protect ourselves of two important setbacks.
First, The Matthew effect. We talked about Matthew effect here “The Matthew Effect refers to a pattern in which those who begin with advantage accumulate more advantage over time and those who begin with disadvantage become more disadvantaged over time (Dannefer, 1987; O’Rand, 1996). The result is ever-widening differences between the advantaged and disadvantaged.”
AI is an excellent example! The ones able to create their own models using their own data and supervised by their own people, will have an abundance. The others will create a dependency!
Do you want to be more specific?
Students with a solid framework will take the most of AI (BOTH creating and using it!)
Students with a weak framework…. They will lose even it!
Tourism Destinations/Enterprises with a solid management of the members of the chain of value will increase the effectiveness of their operations and processes inside THEIR chain of value.
Tourism Destinations/Enterprises without a solid management...they will just create another dependency! Like the one that they already have with big Touroperators, big infomediaries (OTAs, CRS...), big low cost aerolines (which they pay in order that they bring Tourists!!).
Nowadays, everybody talks about MCP (Model Control Protocol). MCP allowing different departments and enterprises to work as a single and intelligent system. It sounds very #Touristologistly to me! 
After the presentation of OpenAI practicing a little bit of Syndication mixing their AI with webservices from other companies and looking to become the leader of the attention ecosystem OR, as WE love to say to become a S3, as a way to control the chain of value the other setback appears! 

THIS AI It is a good example of a giant with feet of clay! For two powerful reasons:
First, the high investment and cost (both in money and environment issues) of creating it. Which make profitability and sustainability difficult to achieve.
Second, the relatively high percentage of wrong answers. You can ask it to Air Canada “AI promising discounts that weren’t applicable to a specific Tourists”
You can ask it to McDonald's where AI “adding erroneous items like butter packets or multiplying how many items were ordered.”
Recently, you can ask it to Deloitte and Touche  THIS AI “technically it is not lying, it simply doesn’t know what is real and what is not.”  “might have made some up…fictitious references…federal curt judgments”
Can you TRUST it for Travel Management?
Is AI an important technology for the future of our beloved sector? Of course, as it is Blockchain and Virtual_Augmented reality! They are the three technologies mixed in heaven to help us to provide opportunities to our Tourists, members of their community around the world, local enterprises and inhabitants!
BUT, we have to improve AI, we have to develop our models using our own data! Creating our own models verified by our own people and provided in a way that we can negotiate! 
At the end of the day, AI providers will be another member of the Chain of Value and we love to control/manage it, in order to increase the profitability and sustainability of OUR Tourism destinations/enterprises!
We prefer to build OUR giants based on international communities of Tourists then, to use AI to provide scalability in the customization of OUR Servuction processes.
We prefer to put PEOPLE (Tourists, inhabitants and Touristologists) as a powerful base!
We are Touristologists!!!  

Cybersecurity and IOT…. IOT? Internet Of Tourists!!!

This summer I have been reading, talking, getting my hands dirty on code with an old friend of my intellectual world….
You know, Touristologists! The world where WE love to mix together Touristology and new technologies!
I was reviewing the fundamental principles of Cybersecurity. 
How to “create” logs, stream them, analyze in Real_Time, react to some potential threats…
As always, enjoy reviewing fundamentals Touristologists! Otherwise, they will get rusty.  
By the way, it is very interesting to see how frameworks change and other still the same. 
Touristology’s principles is an excellent example of the last one (First specialized, then generic, Always two hands Business Model and Technological Scheme, GROUPS creation, International Routes, Hybrid Experiences….)! BUT…on the other hand, when WE began this OUR blog 15 years ago to get rusty it was a bad situation. Nowadays…WE love Rust and Cybersecurity also loves it!!!
Remember, Touristologists!!! Learn and adapt if it it’s necessary!!!
We can visualize and implement improvements in Cybersecurity’s principles using Artificial Intelligence and Stream Processing!
We can visualize and implement Cybersecurity in OUR beloved sector!!!
When is more important to provide Cybersecurity that when you are Travelling?
If the Tourists act as a sensor in movement detecting opportunities for their international community and providing solutions to local enterprises as we review here, we also have to be sure that security is provided! Cybersecurity for the Tourists, for the local enterprises and for the members of their international community around the world!

Keep learning!
Keep improving!!
keep dreaming in building the future of our beloved sector!!!

How to make miracles really happening in any Tourism Destination!

This summer I have been enjoying this podcast that awaken my intellectual curiosity! I love the music, the anchor (Enric Calpena), the guests… 

After listening THIS podcast, I wrote in Twitter (Sorry, Elon). The tweet is in Catalan, my beautiful mother tonge! It is a summarize of what I want to share with you in this post!

 They were talking about how was possible that Catalonia were one of the first to, successfully, adapt the industrialization of Europe in 1750-1850. Was it a miracle?
It seems that the key was the existence of small and medium size enterprises (SME) with knowledge of exportation and with presence and authority in local government
Can we apply, the same ideas TODAY in any Tourism Destination?
Touristologists of the world! Listen to your inner Touristology's voice!!!
The time has come to change the way you create, communicate and commercialize your tourism products or, at least, to reorganize the way you spend your budget…
Spend less on mass-media ads, saying that you are the best, less on tradeshows, less on … and more on Touristology! More on your people, the most important tourism resource in any destination!!!
We have to help to build an ecosystem of SME focused on International Specialized Segments which motivation to travel have to strongly related to the local enterprises and/or culture that we want to improve and preserve!
We have to be sure that these SME provide support and opportunities from the beginning to the end of the trip! This will be the source of new revenue streams like International Routes AND  Hybrid Experiences. 

We have to be sure, that these SME will be members and will have authority inside the government, instead of waiting that somebody, without real experience in Travel Management provide a new rule, a new tourism tax, a new red tape, a new “paper” about if a foreign infomediary is good for the local economy…
If you believe that local enterprises focused on Generic Tourism providing services to Tourists already here can build a sustainable and profitable #TourismDestination…well you can keep dreaming copyologists!
Meanwhile, consider that you are done a great job and...

Leaves your place to the future of Touristology!

Today 15 years ago…

Today 15 years ago... I began this OUR blog!

I said then and, Touristologistly, I repeat, today!

This is NOT my blog. It is the blog of the ones who fell in love with Touristology!!!

The ones that, strongly, believe that to travel can improve Tourists’ life (personal and professional) meanwhile improving the richness of Tourism destinations and take care of their culture and identity!

The ones able to visualize and implement how new technologies can improve the Operations and Processes of Tourism Enterprises!

The ones knowing how to make Tourism provide synergies with other sectors of the economy!

The ones that, proudly, claim that they are the best minds in the best sector ever!

Enjoy your Science!

Enjoy YOUR blog!!!