the role of indigenous tourism in developing conscious hosts

The Role of Indigenous Tourism in Developing Conscious Hosts and Accelerating the Tourism Shift

BackgroundIn a previous paper, Can Tourism Change its Operating Model, I presented some preliminary thoughts regarding the need for a new model to emerge that offsets the harm caused by an industrial model that has dominated tourism’s growth over the past 60 years.

Here I share my current thinking about the role that tourism providers (hosts) can play in bringing about the shift and their need to adopt a very different mindset to that which has underpinned the old model. While the way leading thinkers and practitioners of responsible, eco, sustainable, geo and fair trade tourism see the world (their worldview or mindset) may have some similarities to the worldview held by indigenous peoples, the role that indigenous tourism can play in helping the shift has not been fully recognized or acknowledged.

This paper constitutes a Dirst attempt on my part to address that imbalance and stimulate a rich exchange of ideas and concepts between all parties in order to accelerate the emergence of a new model: Conscious Travel

The Power of Place and The Role of Indigenous HostsThe shift from a mass, industrialised form of tourism will require a shift in focus from "products" to "places."

Products are artiDicial creations that can be reproduced and undersold and, as a result, become commodities that only generate diminishing returns to their owner/sellers.

Places, on the other hand, cannot be reproduced -‐ unless you have 13.5 billion years to wait – as each place is both geographically and historically unique. The visitor's experience is subjective (personal and emotional) and speciDic to the time when they experience the place. Thus, in a sense, “places” have uniqueness to the power of four (value of a place = geography * history * visitor * the timing of their experience). Uniqueness and scarcity will recoup higher yields than bland sameness and homogeneity.

Furthermore, the focus on products accentuates the sense of fragmentation that dominates travel Anna Pollock • email: [email protected] • Founder, Conscious Travel 1

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/can-tourism-change-its-operating-model

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/can-tourism-change-its-operating-model

mailto:[email protected]


and tourism and does not recognize that our guests have complete experiences made of several elements. Focusing on a guest’s “place experience” necessitates collaboration and working together as a community.

So the big questions of the day are – how do we make that shift from product to place? And what would that shift look like? Given the fact that tourism is a network, change will have to come from within the system, and from the bottom up. That’s why I place so much focus on the role of the host in initiating change in order to attract a customer who will value their experience more highly. We know that "conscious travelers" want to experience a place different in character from their origin; seek what they deem to be "real", authentic, local and exotic; wish to slow down and savour their experience; want to learn and are keen to ensure their visit beneDits the local community. Who else but the hosts within a community will bear the brunt of responsibility for meeting these desires?

So leaving it to the DMO to commission yet another branding strategy or to the local Council to undertake another beautiDication project and grant a licence to a farmer’s market, won’t work. After a while every rejuvenated community starts to look the same too and every brand merges into another!

Hosts (i.e., tourism communities) need to adopt a new set of lenses for perceiving their world and shaping their values. For as long as hosts approach the problem of yield with the same mindset that created the lack of it, they are doomed to experience the same results.

But there is no need to start with a blank sheet. Huge lessons are to be learned from indigenous people throughout the globe 4irstly because they have the most vital sense of place, and secondly. because they express the cultural diversity so vital to our health as humanity.

Indigenous peoples were able to live sustainably and in relative harmony with nature for thousands of years largely because they had a different mindset to the one that has dominated perception in the so-‐called industrialised world for the past 300 years or so.

Instead of trying to absorb indigenous cultures into the tourism mainstream, conscious hosts will commit to listening and learning from some of the oldest, most sustainable cultures on the planet. More importantly, tourism can, IF consciously and sensitively undertaken, potentially assist in the preservation of what Wade Davis calls the “ethnosphere” -‐ a term describing “the sum total of all thoughts and intuitions, myths and beliefs, ideas and inspirations brought into being by human being since the dawn of consciousness.”1 While much attention is now being paid to the loss of biodiversity on the planet, the destruction of our cultural diversity is generally ignored. Anthropologists predict that fully 50% of the 7000 languages spoken around the world today will disappear in our lifetime. As Wade Davis so eloquently describes the loss: “Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind, a watershed of thought, an ecosystem of spiritual possibilities.

I do not believe, nor am I suggesting, that we try to turn the clock back -‐ simply that we honour the wisdom and knowledge our indigenous kin have safeguarded; revisit the values we have lost in our rush towards “progress;” and apply them in fresh ways appropriate to our time.

As a person of British origin (mostly Celt), infused with a lifetime of western education and experience in a consumer society, I can only present my perceptions – based on limited observation and experience – of the indigenous worldview. I appeal therefore to my indigenous friends and colleagues to add to this discussion.

Features of an Indigenous World ViewI believe the indigenous "worldview" has six core features that, if adopted and applied by hosts in a tourism community would deliver more sustainable incomes to hosts, more beneDits to host communities and more delight to guests.

Anna Pollock • email: [email protected] • Founder, Conscious Travel 2



1. A Sense of KinshipIndigenous people enjoy a very different relationship with the natural environment than those of us brought up in European and North American cultures. Earth is not seen as a separate lumberyard of resources to be exploited – taken, hoarded and used for the purpose of individual wealth creation -‐ but as part of an organic living system that connects all life in a cycle of give and take, death and re-‐birth. A person with an indigenous perspective wouldn't talk about walking in Nature as if Nature were a separate place. Instead, they would see themselves as an integral,

inseparable aspect of a Nature whose whole could not be reduced to individual components.

In an indigenous community, other life forms are viewed as kin -‐ the Lakota have a prayer Mitakuye Oyasin which means All My Relations honouring the sacredness of each person's individual spiritual path, and acknowledging the sacredness of all life (human, animal, plant, etc.).

Luther Standing Bear, a great leader of the Lakota expressed this integral sense of kinship this way in 19332:

"From Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, there came a great unifying life force that Flowed in and through all things -- the Flowers of the plains, blowing winds, rocks, trees, birds, animals -- and was the same force that had been breathed into the First man. Thus all things were kindred, and were brought together by the same Great Mystery.”

Life on this earth and all the aspects that sustain life and happiness (earth, air, Dire, and water that, together, provide sustenance plus the materials to create shelter and tools) are experienced as precious gifts that must be acknowledged appreciated and reciprocated. A concept core to Polynesian culture is “UTU” -‐ the notion of reciprocity and balance.

Andean peoples refer to “sacred reciprocity” as ayni, One of the most enduring ceremonies expressing ayni in indigenous Andean life is the practice of making offerings, or despachos, to the Pachamama, Mother Earth. 3

Indigenous peoples have been extending hospitality to invaders for most of their recent history and, given their sense of kinship and given their sense of UTU (as deDined in Polynesia), they are as practiced as they are generous.

2. A Sense of PlaceI believe it is this Sense of Kinship that fuels and enables the deep sense of place held by indigenous people. Every day when they step out of their dwelling, they experience being surrounded by the spirits of their ancestors, an extended family of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, mingling with the spirits of all beings (plants, animals, minerals) located in their immediate vicinity.

This immersion in a real but invisible web of connection strengthens that sense of identity with and belonging to a speciDic place and engenders an acute awareness of the natural world.

Deeper than that sense of connection lies an innate recognition and inner knowing that form is not the only reality. All form is, in fact, a manifestation of spirit and energy. Invisible forces shape and mould the external forms that our physical senses perceive.




The Kogi, a tribe in the Andean mountains of Columbia argue that there is no life without thought. Their enlightened ones – the Mamas – dedicate their lives to holding all planetary life in balance. 4

Every place accumulates in its “place memory” the patterns of interaction between life forms that shape its essence or spirit. This invisible force, that resides in people, animals, places and inanimate objects, is referred to as MANA in Polynesian cultures and its presence makes all places sacred to indigenous people.

It is this Sense of Place that enables indigenous people to effortlessly offer the “authentic” experience conscious travelers seek. But authenticity can never be manufactured. It’s the natural state of things that emerges from connection to a place and is expressed in the language, art, food, ritual, dance, daily routine, and prayers associated with each place and community. Connectedness leads to authenticity that expresses the integrity, the essence, or the spirit of a community.

3. A Sense of RespectWhen you see all life forms as connected, as your relations, as your family; when you sense or see no separation and know in the depth of your being that what you do to others (either in this generation or in generations to follow) is being done to you; you develop a healthy respect for all life forms. The master carver will thank a tree prior to its felling for giving its life, its strength and suppleness to become a safe canoe capable of traversing vast distances of the PaciDic Ocean.

In addition to these rituals that arise from a sense of UTU, reciprocity, and give and take, indigenous cultures also develop a complex set of rules to ensure that its people understand and obey nature’s laws. Known as TAPU, these rules set boundaries on human behaviour. They form the cultural glue that bind a people together and enable them to sustain a livelihood on the land.

In Australian aboriginal cultures, for example, it is TAPU for humans to walk on Uluru, yet every year ignorant and indifferent tourists disregard the polite requests made by local residents to obey this injunction.

In this video link, you’‘ll meet an indigenous but thoroughly modern Samoan high chief, Vaimasenu’u Zita Sefo Martel, operator of an inbound tour company, talk about the power of TAPU in her country where there is concern that rising incomes and western developments are slowly undermining the cultural tapestry that sustained Samoan culture for centuries. 5

4. A Sense of CustodianshipThe word most frequently associated with indigenous cultures all over the world is “custodianship”. Not only does the tribe enjoy the gift of life and the place it occupies, but lives the responsibility for taking care of it.

The word CARE seems more appropriate than the word responsibility which seems to suggest an act of duty rather than an act of joy. The reason the Golden Rule of “do unto others as you would do unto yourself” applies in indigenous culture is perhaps because there is little sense of separation and estrangement -‐ we all breathe the same air; we all are made of the same star dust; we all are one.

The following description from the Te Papa Museum in Wellington sums up what a sense of care means to the Maori:

“Each iwi (tribe) has its own mana (authority and power) handed down from ancient times.With this comes the responsibility of kaitiakitanga (guardianship). Iwi are charged with protecting and looking after their ancestral lands and waters, their resources, and their


http://youtu.be/1Esk_VtrFVs

http://youtu.be/1Esk_VtrFVs



values and customs, as well as with deciding how they will be used.

In Maori custom, iwi are the guardians of their rohe (tribal areas) for generations to come. So we don’t think only about the present, but also work to preserve the life-sustaining properties of our forests, lands, and waters for the future.

5. A Sense of Time and PaceIndigenous people do not perceive time in fragments along a linear “arrow like” chain from past through present and future but as a circular movement associated with cyclical, seasonal changes (movement of the moon, sun and stars) and the natural ebb and Dlow of life (birth, growth, maturation, reDlection, death). As a result, their perspective is multi generational and their present always encompasses the wisdom of their ancestors accrued over time through past experiences. They are able to consider a topic from many perspectives and don’t get stuck believing that a contemporary perspective is the only one worth using. Events occur “when the time is right and the circumstances propitious or favourable” and not according to some speciDic point in a calendar.

Indigenous people live the “slow life” because such a way of living is vital to sustain the connection with all the life that teams around them. They are unhurried in order to be able to observe, to listen, to hear and pay attention to the guidance that is being offered by life at every moment. They know how to savour experience. They live what the conscious traveller seeks.

6. A Sense of Aliveness Indigenous people don’t live in a dead world of things, of efDicient but soulless processes, and planned but sterile spaces Dilled with objects engineered not grown, manufactured not crafted. They experience the world as it is – alive – messy, organic, sometimes dirty, other times exquisitely beautiful, sometimes profoundly painful and other times inspirational and ever changing.

Indigenous people know how to celebrate life – the good, the bad and the ugly – in all kinds of creative ways – through painting, architecture, drumming, song, dance, storytelling and poetry. In their societies they have shamans, magicians,

jesters, clowns, entertainers, dancers, singers just like many other cultures. Anyone and everyone is considered capable of contributing to the celebration. Each form of celebration reDlects the unique place in which it takes place. And it’s a celebration of the sheer miracle of being alive and the ineffable joy and mystery of creation itself.

Celebration isn’t an event that someone organizes so specialists can perform and others pay to watch. Celebration is never a transaction but a communal dance or conversation – sometimes a ritualistic one -‐ among people with each other and with life itself. These kinds of celebrations have healing qualities as you will see from this description out of a desperately poor village in Zimbabwe.

In Africa – besieged by grief and loss, endlessly suffering from abuse, hunger, disease – it is still possible to experience what it means to be fully human, fully alive. In moments of grief, people stand up and dance, not to deny the pain, but to use that searing energy and metabolize it into movement, even into joy. In moments of frustration, people convert the red energy of anger into intense physical rhythms – singing, clapping, drumming.….. In this we are witnessing alchemical transformation, working with the darkest human emotions and turning them into brief moments of gold. 6

To be alive is to be whole – all aspects of your being (physical, mental, emotion and spiritual) spinning on all four cylinders. Now here’s where the connection with travel gets really interesting. The word “holiday” actually means “ a day to be holy” or made whole. So-‐called primitive people recognized that a life of all work and no play would dessicate the spirit and deprive it of its vitality. Thus tourism had its earliest foundations in the need to be whole or to be healed. People took time




off to celebrate life in the form of festivals and days of spiritual worship and celebration. A critical part of those events was recognition of the spiritual sources (the Gods and spirits) that made the time and event sacred or holy and gave it meaning.

Note: this is a very cursory summary of a way of seeing that is incredibly profound and rich. It may not be 100% accurate and certainly only scratches the surface. But is hopefully sufDicient at this moment to stimulate curiosity and open up a dialogue.

The Role of Hosts in Shifting Tourism from One Model to AnotherThe shift in operating model cannot be envisioned or lead from the “top down” through amendments to tourism policies; the introduction of rewards (incentives) or punishments (taxes, levies, surcharges etc); imposition of checklists, criteria and certiDication even though each of these instruments may help in some cases accelerate or guide the shift.

The shift will occur one host at a time -‐ when individual providers decide that there has to be a better way to provide a living for themselves and their families, to Dind meaning and purpose in doing so, to generate net beneDit to the broader community and to ensure long term vitality, resilience and adaptability.

Hosts will discover that the shift is easier, less risky and more fun when it is attempted in good company by collaborating with peers, including some competitors, in their community. In any given destination, if just 5% of providers commit to becoming Conscious Hosts and helping each other make the shift then change is assured.

The movement from an industrial to an ecological model requires a shift in the role and activities of hosts. In the industrial model the hosts is a cog in a machine -‐ a specialist who depends on a speciDic set of knowledge and skills to undertake particular functions: hotel manager, activity operator,

inbound tour operator, event manager, etc. In the emerging new model -‐ where the focus is on supporting a customer’s experience of a place -‐ the host must assume a broader spectrum of roles. He or she doesn’t need to do all well but:

a) be aware that they must play many of the roles some of the time; and b) chose those roles which their personality, personal passions and talents are most suited and excel at those.

Note: I am assuming that the host will have mastered conventional business / management skills. What’s presented here are the functions that must be undertaken and the roles that must be fulDilled in a destination community if the hosts and

residents are to attract, engage and support conscious travellers most effectively. Please note also that I am not being prescriptive about HOW these roles are fulFilled as I am convinced that each individual host and the community of hosts they form will express these roles in unique ways to reFlect their uniqueness as people and the uniqueness of the place in which they operate.

1. Be ConnectorsThe intelligence of any system depends not on the number of elements (neurons, hubs, self organising agents) but on the quantity and quality of connections between them. Contrary to popular perception, the intelligence of any organism (cell, human body, human organisation) lies in its membrane (how and where it interfaces with the environment) as opposed to its nucleus.

Thus a vitally important role of a host in any community is to connect people (guest to guest; guest to other hosts; hosts to hosts; and hosts to the rest of community)and to provide settings that enable those encounters to be fruitful in terms of the production of new ideas (innovation) and their diffusion. Hosts need to master this task both online and ofDline.

Sadly, conventional approaches to economic development under appreciate and undervalue this




connecting function. As all economic sectors are valued and rated according to their “productivity” (GDP per unit or per capita) tourism scores poorly and is often disdained as a result. What is not appreciated is the fact that the travel sector -‐ through its daily contact with visitors to a community -‐ is, in fact acting as the “membrane” that enables the community to Dirst learn of changes in the surrounding environment that could affect its future. Similarly, within conventional tourism organisations, the frontline (the membrane or skin of an organisation) is considered of peripheral importance (pun intended!); paid least and rarely included in strategic decision making even though it is probably most in tune with the changing needs and opinions of guests.

2. Be AttractorsAlong with many others I have described the shift of marketing from “Push to Pull” -‐ see here. The role of hosts will shift from promoting or pushing a message somewhat intrusively on a target to one of listening to an ideal customer in order to learn how best to serve and support them

Marketing is now about identifying who would make the ideal customers based on the host’s values, ideals and sense of purpose that have informed and shaped the experience on offer; then attracting that guest by creating an emotional connection. The best way to do the latter is through creative story telling about the place and the personalities who have shaped it.

Conscious hosts will therefore apply themselves to really understand what makes their place special and different by acquiring an in-‐depth knowledge of its history, geography and cultural anthropology. Hosts will be the ardent champions and interpreters for their place NOT by

simply claiming it is the best place on earth but by communicating its unique qualities and particular ways of providing delight and satisfaction. Their stories shouldn’t be limited to topics that are entertaining or quaint but should really help the guest feel that they have got under the skin of community by understanding not just its past but its aspirations for the future.

Hosts, therefore, are the attractors, the magnets that pull guests towards a place because they are able to tell its stories and communicate its essence, its spirit. Their passion and enthusiasm will

ideally “infect” their guests such that they too become ardent champions and “infect” their peers when they return home.


“We cannot win this battle to save species

and environment without forging an

emotional bond between ourselves and

nature as well - for we will not fight to save

what we do not love.” Stephen J. Gould

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/marketing-intheneweconomywhenpushcomestopull

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/marketing-intheneweconomywhenpushcomestopull



In New Zealand, in a ground breaking study called “Standing in My Shoes”: they have called this process of creating infection “creating wow or ihi” deDined “as aspects of an overall visitor experience or components of the experience that engage and connect with visitors to stimulate them emotionally, physically or spiritually and create a powerful memory”.

'Ihi' is the Māori term for a mental wowing, a spine tingling, shudder-inducing, forceful experience that stimulates the senses and leaves a powerful impression in the mind of the recipient. It sits alongside two complementary concepts. Other aspects of ihi can include;Wana: amazing, glorious, energetic, uplifting and Wehi: awe-inspiring, fearsome.7

So given what ihi means, It is not too far fetched to suggest -‐ as we did in this post a while ago, when musing about the deep purpose of travel, that the real goal here is to help guests “fall in love” with a place by experiencing a sense of wonder and awe. Stephen Gould has suggested that we will not Dight to save what we do not love and David Orr, another ecologist, has commented: “I do not know whether it is possible to love the planet or not, but I do know it is possible to love the places we can see, touch, smell and experience.”

Psychologist Eric Fromm was the Dirst to describe the concept of biophilia -‐ a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital and the term literally means “love of life or love of living systems”. More recently the word became the title of a book on the subject by Edward O. Wilson and was deDined as “the urge to afDiliate with other forms of life.” All of which stress the need for hosts to get in touch with and satisfy the deeper emotional, psychological and often spiritual motivations of their guests and not just focus on material comforts or operational efDiciencies.

A framework for attracting and engaging international visitors that resulted in ihi is reproduced from the Standing in My Shoes report in the Digure below.

3. Be EducatorsIf a new model is to replace industrial tourism, the number and proportion of conscious travellers must expand. Conscious Hosts are the ones who have direct contact with guests and often have the best opportunities through conversations or by living their own values to guide guest behaviour and help their guest make conscious travel decisions. This involves far more than the discrete placement of laminated signs in bathrooms telling guests to hang up their towels. It means taking every opportunity to show guests how to respect local traditions; how to behave; how to select responsible suppliers; and how to ensure that their spending beneDits the local community.

Conscious hosts should also remember that customers are not always right and that travel, especially international travel, isn’t a right but a privilege. When visitors cross into another country, they carry a responsibility to respect the rights and way of life of their hosts. In this respect, hosts are encouraged to follow the advice of Vaimasenu’u Sefo Martel, the Polynesian leader speaking in the video included on page 4 of this paper, and “own your own Dierceness” that comes from a deep sense of identiDication with a place and its peoples and a passion to protect both.

The effectiveness with which hosts can inDluence guests’ future travel choices and behaviour will, however, depend on the extent to which they are fulDilling the Difth role as active custodians.


http://conscioustourism.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/why-conscious-hosts-will-help-their-guests-fall-in-love/

http://conscioustourism.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/why-conscious-hosts-will-help-their-guests-fall-in-love/



4. Be CustodiansAs conscious hosts will love the place in which they work and be passionate about helping their guests fully enjoy its uniqueness, then they too will naturally wish to protect it. Furthermore, since hosts depend on a healthy, balanced ecosystem and the rich, diverse cultures that form the distinct, vibrant places that are the settings for their guest’s experiences, they shoulder a direct responsibility for its stewardship. Thus Conscious Hosts will be active, effective and committed ”agents for change” in their communities advocating and often enabling measures to conserve environments, regenerate local cultures and prevent further damage and deterioration.

At the very least, conscious hosts will be walking their talk and treading lightly on the earth, doing all they can to minimise waste and use of non-‐renewable resources. They will create “Places That Care” and measure and monitor their progress so that any claims regarding responsibility can immediately be proven true.

5. Be AwakenersOne of the tragedies of modern society is that its members are often so busy packing so many things into a day that they forget how to live! Furthermore, the sheer volume of abrasive stimuli that assault our senses cause many to resort to what has been described as “pyschic numbing” in order to cope. In fact it is this very assault on our senses that causes many to want to “escape”, to “get away” on vacation. The pace of modern society further aggravates the problem. Clearly this is evidence that more is not always better.

So in this context the role of the Conscious Host is to help the guest slow down in the destination; learn to fully savour their experience by awakening all their senses; and wake up to a genuine sense of aliveness.

6. Be Magician Healers Who TransformAs was described in the previous paper, Can Tourism Change its Operating Model, many guests are changing their values -‐ no longer interested on acquisition of either things or experiences but seeking some form of personal growth and transformation. Many are viewing travel as an opportunity to see things differently or to be changed in some way.

Pine and Gilmore, authors of the seminal work, The Experience Economy, were the Dirst to identify The Transformation Economy as the likely next phase in the increasingly complex saga of consumption.

Experiences are not the Final offering. Companies can escape the commoditization trap by the same route as all other offerings: customisation. When you customise an experience to make it just right for the individual – providing exactly what he or she needs right now – you cannot help changing that individual. When you customize an experience, you automatically turn it into a transformation….

With transformations, the economic offering of a company is the individual person or company changed as the result of what the company does. With transformations, the customer is the product! The individual buyer of the transformation essentially says, “change me”.

If the Experience Economy is the commercial expression of the networked Knowledge /Information Age, then it is fair to say that the Transformation Economy is the outer, transactional expression of the emerging Age of Meaning when Dinally the needs of a human’s spirit and soul are met in the marketplace of ideas and personal services rather than in the cloister, temple or mosque.

And here’s the rub. Transformations cannot be extracted, made, delivered or even staged, they can only be guided. Transformations occur within the customer and can only be made by them. Transformative transactions are truly co-‐creative. All of which points to the Conscious Host’s Dinal,




and perhaps, most important role and that is of healer/magician. Someone who creates the conditions for personal transformation to occur.

ConclusionClearly, I am suggesting that the tourism provider (host) of tomorrow will be expected to perform a very much more demanding set of roles than they currently assume today. But unless the nature of the guests’ experience is signiDicantly enriched through a more profound, meaningful and transformative encounter with a place and its people, providers will Dind it harder to prevent being dragged down the steep slope of commodiDication. Thanks to the rising cost of all inputs (energy, water, food, labour) it is possible, and even likely, that the the real cost of travel will increase and consumers will travel internationally less frequently. All the more reason to ensure that those highly prized international trips generate more meaning and satisfaction for the customer and more beneDit and meaning for the host and host community.

Thus the task ahead is integration of an ancient, indigenous approach to a very contemporary phenomenon. The following chart (on ) shows the real value that application of an indigenous perspective could have to shaping an energising the expanded roles of a conscious host.

INTEGRATING INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES INTO

THE ROLE OF A CONSCIOUS HOST

Indigenous Values Role of a Conscious Host

Impact of an Indigenous Worldview

KINSHIP CONNECTOR Host recognises that he/she are part of a community in which collaboration and mutual support are essential. Host is the social hub and acts as connector - linking guests to the host community, to other guests and the land/setting in which the experience occurs

PLACE ATTRACTOR Host expresses, interprets what’s unique about the place; helps orchestrate the guests’ experience to ensure authenticity

RESPECT EDUCATOR Host teaches by example what it means to be a conscious guest and respect local traditions and customs;

CARE CUSTODIAN Host take responsibility for being the change agent and steward in terms of environmental regeneration and cultural preservation.

TIME & PACE AWAKENER Host helps the guest slow down and empty (vacate) in order that he/she can be truly present and enjoy an experience that delights all the senses.

ALIVENESS HEALER/

MAGICIAN

Host helps create the conditions whereby the guest can return home changed in a way that generates deeper satisfaction and fulfillment.




The new frontier for tourism will be found in every community where there is a group of curious, determined providers willing to work together, to experiment, try, fail and try again to bring about a new form of tourism that is environmentally sustainable, socially just and spiritually fulDilling. Hopefully these ideas might provide one stepping stone towards creating that reality. I appeal to my readers -‐ especially those to resonate with these ideas -‐ to add their own.

April 2012, New ZealandAnna [email protected]. With nostalgia I noted today that 20 years have passed since I made my Dirst attempt at weaving in an indigenous perspective to tourism in Shifting Gears

FOOTNOTES


1 The Wayfinders - Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, Wade Davis,The

University of Western Australia Publishing, 2009.

2 Source: Ben Sherman, President, Native American Tourism Alliance in e-mail

correspondence. I am indebted to Ben for his input to this essay/

3 Pachamama Alliance http://www.pachamama.org/blog/new-moon-action-make-an-offering-

to-our-mother-earth

4 Aluna - new documentary about the Kogi: http://www.alunathemovie.com/the-message

5 Polynesian Xplorer Blog: www.polyxblog.wordpress.com

6 Walk Out Walk On - A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now

by Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2011

7 Standing In Our Shoes: http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/engage%20full%20report_0.pdf



http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/shifting-gears-1995

http://www.slideshare.net/AnnaP/shifting-gears-1995



http://www.pachamama.org/blog/new-moon-action-make-an-offering-to-our-mother-earth




http://www.alunathemovie.com/the-message

http://www.alunathemovie.com/the-message

http://www.polyxblog.wordpress.com

http://www.polyxblog.wordpress.com

http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/engage%20full%20report_0.pdf

http://www.mch.govt.nz/files/engage%20full%20report_0.pdf

the role of indigenous tourism in developing conscious hosts

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