More and more tourists are searching for
experiences that connect them to diverse cultures in an unplanned spontaneous
way that seems authentic and genuine. Traditional travel adventures such as
mass market bus tours, the all-inclusive resorts, and jam packed travel
itineraries are becoming a thing of the past. People are looking for something
more different… more authentic.
To
encourage more authentic cultural tourism products CES first developed the
Spontaneous Tourism Model™. This model represents a managed version of the type
of tourism activities that are taking place in many indigenous communities throughout
the world already – a visitor calls the Community Tourism Office, expresses an
interest in various activities in the community, and the Tourism Officer
recruits Guides/Tour Delivery Agents to facilitate the request - or sometimes
lead the activity themselves. These
activities are considered ‘static’, meaning that the opportunity to deliver them
exists regardless of whether or not an entrepreneur chooses to build a business
around one of them.
Using
the community’s resources, infrastructure and technology, this model becomes an
incubator for new products, entrepreneurs and new and existing businesses. This
approach allows local individuals to offer unique tourism experiences without
the need to quit their job, develop a business plan or take the risk of opening
a new venture.
Since
the development of this concept, another model was discovered referred to as
the Vayable Tourism Model. Vayable is an organization dedicated to enabling
entrepreneurship, cultural exchange, community-building and exploration
worldwide by empowering people to share experiences with others. Vayable’s
model is built upon the following principles:
1.
Improve people’s lives through cultural exchange
2. New
way to experience local culture – provides a service that connects individuals
looking to experience honest, local culture through experiences created and
hosted by passionate local Insiders
3.
Experiences are created by ‘Independent Insiders’ – artists, designers,
foodies, teachers, photographers, guides, Elders and everyone else can create
and operate their own experiences. Each Independent Insider creates, curates,
and takes on full responsibility for the experiences they offer. Vayable is the
platform and a resource – they do not run or host the experiences. Anyone can
create an experience on Vayable as long as it meets their guidelines.
4.
People have been travelling this way for generations – provide opportunities
for individuals who aspire to enrich their understanding of the world and
themselves.
5.
Providing long lasting meaning and fulfillment from experiences – the survival
of the tourism industry relies heavily on the communities that sustain it. For
many countries, tourism presents the greatest promise of prosperity and
economic mobility. Vayable provides these communities with a new, safe and fun
way to accomplish this.
6.
Participants help individuals support their passion while sustaining a culture
and building a community – visitors have an opportunity to help empower local
entrepreneurs to earn a living from their passions, knowledge and skills. This
results in creating a positive impact on the community by helping to keep
culture alive and bringing local commerce to neighbourhoods and towns that may
otherwise not have access to capital and traditional tourist centres.
The
‘local insider’ is responsible for designing the experience and personalized
profile that is shared on the website. This personalized approach begins to
create a connection between the visitor and their guide before they even go on
the tour. As far as standards and guidelines go, it is kept pretty simple.
Anyone with unique knowledge, skills or access can earn money offering an
experience as a Vayable Insider. The only thing that Vayable enforces is that
all Insiders offer quality well fleshed-out experiences and have safety
precautions for visitors.
The ‘local insider’ is responsible for
designing the experience and personalized profile that is shared on the
website. This personalized approach begins to create a connection between the
visitor and their guide before they even go on the tour. As far as standards
and guidelines go, it is kept pretty simple. Anyone with unique knowledge,
skills or access can earn money offering an experience as a Vayable Insider.
The only thing that Vayable enforces is that all Insiders offer quality
well-fleshed out experiences and have safety precautions for visitors.
It’s models like this that are celebrating
authentic experiences and something different from the norm. These models focus more on creating a genuine
relationship with the visitor and the host.
CES is currently working on developing a
strategy for Aboriginal Tourism Ontario that strongly recommends pursuing an
approach like this to develop authentic indigenous tourism products throughout
the province. This innovative model will change the future of indigenous
tourism development and focus on empowering local community members to share
their culture and do what they are passionate about, whether it is guided
experiences on the land to learn traditional survival skills, how to make the
best bannock, or sitting around a fire telling stories and legends of the past.
CES looks forward to seeing what the future
holds for innovative tourism ideas!
