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2 | www.travelweekly-asia.com Published by NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA SINGAPORE PTE LTD SINGAPORE 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652 • TEL: +65-6801-0450 FAX: +65-6801-0469 BEIJING Room 024, Building 8, Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound, No.9 Jianguomenwai Street, Chaoyang District 100600, China • TEL: +8610-8532 3611 | FAX: +8610-8532 5293 SHANGHAI Room 2553, The Headquarters Building, No.168 Central XiZhang Road, Shanghai 200001, China • TEL: +8621-5179 8360 | FAX: +8621-5179 8360 Travel Weekly Asia is published on a monthly basis by Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd. Located at 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652. All rights reserved. Volume 9 Issue 11 Please address all subscription mail to the above address, Fax +852 3020 5794, or email travelweeklyasia@asia-ad.net. 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Kemp CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Lisa Cohen PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER Matthew Yorke EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER David Blansfi eld EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Arnie Weissmann SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF CONTENT DIRECTOR Lori Cioffi SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Janine L. Bavoso SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION Roberta Muller SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, IT INFRASTRUCTURE & OPERATIONS Rich Mastropietro VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION PRODUCTS GROUP Sheila Rice VICE PRESIDENT, DATABASE PRODUCTS Elizabeth Koesser TRAVEL WEEKLY EVENTS PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS, TRAVEL GROUP Alicia Evanko-Lewis Arnie Weissmann has been involved in virtually every aspect of travel jour- nalism, publishing and media for the past 25 years. His writing has won more than 40 national awards, he created the industry's fi rst destination information service (Weissmann Reports), authored a best-selling textbook and has served as publisher of critical hotel and destination guides for the travel industry. If the pleasure of tourism had to be reduced to just one word, it might be "topophilia" - love of place. The term was introduced to me by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper when I interviewed him at the state's annual Governor's Tourism Conference. Topophilia, as a force for the best of tourism, is amplifi ed when it's shared by residents and visitors. "When people love where they are, they'll invest in it, and it becomes more authentic and a more attractive destination for visitors," Hickenlooper said. Although he's clearly aware of tourism's economic benefi ts, he doesn't lead with that. "Colorado is defi ned by the natural splendour of our wild, and protecting that heritage has been a priority from the start," he said. "Investments to drive tourism - it's hard to say whether we're driving tourism or making responsible investments for the health and enjoyment of our population. They go together." The opening keynote of the conference was not linked to his comments about topophilia but was in sync with his perspective and provided an interesting template for destination management. That talk was presented by William Bakker, chief strategist for Vancouver-based Destination Think!, which counsels destination marketing organisations. It provided a thoughtful way to responsibly exploit topophilia while avoiding excessive topophilia, i.e. overtourism. He suggested it wasn't always intuitive for destination promoters to identify what it was that residents loved about their region, but he said it was crucial to do so. The game plan he ultimately laid out began with a simple Oscar Wilde Destination promoters note: Be yourself, everyone else is already taken quote: "Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." The governor had made the identifi cation of Colorado's core attributes seem like an easy task, pointing to "outdoor recreation" as its overarching attraction, one that has myriad expressions, from trout fi shing to hiking to skiing. Bakker said that defi ning a destination's attributes today requires putting a different spin on a destination's value. Traditionally, the starting point would revolve around jobs and tax collection, but local leaders would be wiser to look at their destination in, well, a more Hickenlooperian perspective. Yes, the economic arguments remain, but they are bracketed by protection of environmental and social assets that also defi ne a place. By carefully defi ning environmental, economic and social objectives, one can develop experiences and narratives that tell the destination's story. Identifying a place's DNA and telling its story have become complicated because today, marketers risk being overwhelmed by competing storytellers. All visitors have the means to provide a narrative about a place on social media. "We're obsessed with consumers understanding our brands," Bakker said. "But how do you build brand perception when your messaging is only a small fraction of what's being told about your destination? The only way to try to control the message is to develop experiences that support your message." In other words, if visitors' actual experiences are consistent, they share similar stories. There's another benefi t to consistently supporting the core story: When you tell the right story, you get the right visitors.

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