Development – International Institute of Tourism Studies

Jackson Hole Creates Destination Stewardship Council to Implement New Plan

amandareiserMarch 2, 2023March 2, 2023Leave a comment

In the summer of 2021, driven largely by people seeking outdoor vacations during COVID, national parks and other public lands around the nation set records for visitors. That summer’s unique challenges were pivotal for Teton County, WY, home to the magnificent natural resources of Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park and Bridgerton-Teton National Forest.

The Jackson Hole community was feeling the impacts that unmitigated visitation can inflict on human and natural resources, the pillars of Jackson Hole’s destination economy. The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board (JHTTB) recognized those impacts and decided to act.

They followed the lead of other major tourist destinations—Aspen, Brekenridge, Sedona and Vail among them—who were threatened by their own tourism success and had already developed or were developing destination management plans to respond to tourism sustainability issues. This trend in planning is also happening around the world. Queensland, New Zealand feared overtourism, so the destination reacted with a management plan that invested in roads, public transport, housing and parking, and created a visitor care code and communication campaigns to enhance and promote visitor responsibility.

Needing help to design a sustainable tourism future, the JHTTB called on George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies (GW IITS) and Confluence Sustainability to guide them in the creation of a Sustainable Destination Management Plan (SDMP).

An intense 18-month planning process ensued, wrapping up in December 2022 after engaging nearly 5,000 residents, and in January 2023 the finished plan was adopted unanimously by the JHTTB. In announcing the adoption of the plan, the Board said “together we will ensure that the power of travel and tourism contributes to the health and well-being of our community, our economy and our environment.”

JHTTB also adopted one of the plan’s cornerstone recommendations and created the Teton County Destination Stewardship Council to manage and implement the Sustainable Destination Management Plan in the short-term. Work is already on the way to bring the Destination Stewardship Council to fruition.

The destination’s engagement website https://www.visitjacksonhole.com/locals shares the plan and other previous research from the GW IITS team, and stresses the importance that residents be engaged and active in the SDMP implementation.

“For Teton County, Wyoming, sustainability means balancing the aspirations and needs of community members, businesses, and visitors with the protection of the public lands that are core to the county's heritage, culture, and economy” says Crista Valentino, Interim Executive Director, JHTTB. “GW International Institute of Tourism Studies and Confluence Sustainability played an essential role in building consensus amongst the many stakeholders within our community to build a short and long-term holistic approach towards tourism.”

JHTTB will stay involved to fund projects, events, and initiatives that are eligible for funding under the Wyoming lodging tax statutes. Full implementation funding requires collaborative approaches across jurisdictions and partner organizations named in the plan. The same commitment to collaboration that produced the plan, if brought to implementation, will guarantee Jackson Hole’s sustainable future.

GW Students Supports COVID-19 Recovery Through Digital Capacity Building in the Caribbean Region

GW IITSSeptember 23, 2021September 23, 2021Leave a comment

“Digitalization” was already a buzzword in tourism before the COVID-19 global health pandemic began in 2020, but the topic has since taken on new life as destinations and businesses develop and implement recovery strategies. In a recent survey by Skift of more than 1,000 tourism industry leaders, just over 80% said that they considered digital transformation strategies much more important or somewhat more important in light of COVID-19. The shift to digital is no longer simply helpful, but a requirement to remain competitive as travel rebounds.

For many tourism stakeholders in the Caribbean, digital transformation was not a top priority prior to the pandemic. According to Faye Gill, Director of Membership Services for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), “As we recover and evolve from the impacts the pandemic has had on tourism in the Caribbean, we have identified the need for small, medium and even micro- tourism enterprises to leverage training and tools that can help them to capitalize on the efficiencies gained from implementing online processes, and systems, which can ultimately improve their ability to effectively compete in today’s dynamic environment.”

To address these challenges head on, CTO partnered with George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies (GW IITS) to develop a set of resources that would address the urgent need for digital transformation. The project was led by two recent George Washington University Master of Tourism (MTA) alumni, Beth Wright and Monica Schmidt. The recent graduates took part in GW MTA’s consulting project in the summer of 2020, working with a small team of students to develop COVID-19 recovery and resiliency strategies for the Belize Ministry of Tourism & Diaspora Relations. Following the success of the student consulting project, the two drew upon their learning from their capstone project to develop digital capacity building resources at a wider scale for the Caribbean.

The outcome of the GW and CTO partnership, which took place in the spring of 2021, was the delivery of two new, ready-to-use, resources: 1) a tourism research dashboard for tourism destinations, to aid in the rapid dissemination of data digitally, and 2) a digital capacity building toolkit for small to medium-sized tourism enterprises. Both tools focus on practical frameworks and resources for destination managers and tourism business owners and operators to rebuild their online presence and communications that allows them to compete on the global tourism scale.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred new opportunities for graduate level university programs to tangibly contribute to real-world solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred new opportunities for graduate level university programs to tangibly contribute to real-world solutions. The hands-on graduate consulting projects, as part of the MTA program, are a successful model for strategic partnerships between higher education institutions and regional development organizations that can result in meaningful and timely outcomes. Focusing on scaling these resources further, GW IITS and the CTO will be rolling out more training and mentoring opportunities for tourism businesses in the Caribbean in the coming months.

To watch a recording of the workshop led by Beth and Monica outlining the resources they developed, click here.

The Digital Toolkit for Tourism Businesses can be downloaded at: https://www.onecaribbean.org/resources/digital-tourism-toolkit/

Student Consultants Support Cultural Heritage Tourism in Abruzzo, Italy

GW IITSOctober 23, 2019Leave a comment

The juxtaposition of the sea and mountains makes for an ideal travel destination anywhere in the world. But in Abruzzo, Italy, this natural beauty is combined with world-class cuisine and wine, and a rich historical and cultural context.

During the summer fourteen students from The George Washington University (GWU) traveled to Abruzzo for a two-week consulting project conducted in collaboration with the local D'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara and DestiMed, an initiative of the IUCNCenter for Mediterranean Cooperation, which is a nonprofit working to promote sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.

As Seleni Matus, Executive Director of GWU's International Institute of Tourism Studies explains, "the summer practicum provides Masters of Tourism Administration students with a unique opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge and to see for themselves the actual challenges and opportunities associated with sustainable tourism." Matus, who organized and led the trip, has taken GWU students to Cuba, Mexico and Indonesia during prior years.

The student-consultants were paired with three local Italian students and tasked with researching the region's tourism landscape. Their primary focus was on developing ecotourism-related products and services, exploring market opportunities and evaluating the local and national governance structure in terms of tourism.

Presentations from area experts and professors, one-on-one interviews, and site visits to local attractions—including several national parks—provided students with an understanding of and insights into this relatively unknown part of Europe.

Fred Baldassaro, a second-year Masters of Tourism Administration candidate, summed up the experience this way: “Abruzzo gave us a chance to put all of our education and theory into practice through real-world encounters and experiences. The project also allowed us to contribute to a region that is using tourism for economic development and improving the lives of people living there.”

The students prepared for the project during a month-long class that provided a deep-dive into the general consulting process and included desktop research on the history of tourism in Abruzzo. Perhaps most importantly, the classroom preparation provided students with the confidence to successfully deliver on a project in an unfamiliar area and outside of their comfort zones.

On site, the consulting project began with a two-day seminar at the D'Annunzio University in Chieti and featured speakers from the region, including Gran Sasso National park officials and representatives of the the Italian National Institute of Statistics. Site visits brought classroom research to life and into focus. Yet it was the dozens of interviews with Abruzzo’s tourism stakeholders — mayors, museum curators, park rangers, tour guides professors, hoteliers and restaurant owners— that provided the most useful insights.

Following the interviews and field research, the students synthesized all of the information they gathered and assembled a presentation for local stakeholders— which was covered by local and national TV news-outlets—and a final consulting report that included recommendations for ushering into the region a new generation of sustainable travel.

Tourism Plays Key Role in UN Sustainable Development Goals

GW IITSApril 27, 2016Leave a comment

How will we tackle the great, global problems of poverty, hunger, and social inequity over the next fifteen years? Or the threats posed by climate change, biodiversity loss, and unstable governments?

The United Nations' game plan is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adopted last September and endorsed by 150 world leaders, the SDGs place tourism as part of the solution to worldwide social and environmental problems. Goal 8, Goal 12, and Goal 14, which address economic growth and employment; sustainable consumption and production; and ocean and marine conservation all have tourism-related targets. That’s right—well-managed tourism is now widely acknowledged as a powerful development tool.

Not only that, but the UN declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Next year promises to offer an incredible opportunity for people working in the tourism field.

For students, professionals, and government officials who would like to participate in tourism-related UN development projects, George Washington University and the UN World Tourism Organization Themis Foundation are offering the comprehensive training course Tourism and International Cooperation for Development this summer and fall in Washington, D.C.

According to the description, “This intensive course trains university graduates, industry professionals, and government officials in subject areas related to international cooperation and development through tourism.”

Instructors include Dr. Don Hawkins and Professor Seleni Matus of GW’s Master of Tourism Administration program. The first half of the course is online from August 15 to September 25, and the on-site component takes place at GW from October 8 to 20.

Registration deadline is June 30, 2016. You can apply online. For more detailed information, click here: GW 2016 Course Brochure.

Photo credit: John Shedrick