Tourism

What is Tourism Fatigue?

While attending a recent tourism workshop, an attendee posed the question; how do we deal with “tourism fatigue”?  The attendee was referring to a destinations’ ability to maintain high standards of customer service provided to tourists as tourist numbers grow.

Do I believe “tourism fatigue” exists? If I look at my homeland of Ireland, it is clear that tourism fatigue exists as frontline employees within the tourism industry struggle to maintain their friendly and engaging customer service that they have become so well known for. Yet it is this customer service and interaction that sets Ireland apart from many of its competitors. There is no quick fix to this but there are a number of actions that can be taken to help alleviate “tourism fatigue”.

  • Ensure tourism and hospitality is perceived as an attractive industry where people can carve out a successful long term career to our students. This involves strengthening links between industry and academia, providing training programmes of the highest standards during a person’s time in education in addition to showcasing examples of long term career successes within the tourism industry. This makes for a strong starting point;
  • Invest in training and development – if tourism businesses invest in training and development to match the standards found in other industries, it would go a long way in ensuring that professional customer service is delivered on a consistent basis. I fear that currently this is not the case and as the industry gets busier, the implications of this lack of investment becomes clear;
  • Recognition – recognising those working on the frontline within the tourism industry as service professionals who are key to the industry’s success will instil pride in employees and motivate them to deliver exceptional customer service consistently;
  • Resource accordingly – if your business is getting busier, surely it is time to invest in more talent to ensure you are capable of handling the increased business volumes and creating a business that is sustainable in the long term;

On a final note, it is critical to continuously highlight the importance of the tourism industry to the economy at large and emphasise the role that the nation’s citizens play in ensuring a positive tourism experience is delivered and that tourism continues to be an integral and sustainable contributor to the economy. After all, it did contribute over €8 billion to the Irish economy in 2016!

KL Communications

KL Communications is a Dublin based interaction design studio specialising in branding, communications and sales. With a background in business tourism, Ken Lyons brings a fresh approach to B2B sales. To further expand the agency offering, the collaboration with Paul Condron, Creative Strategist, brings a dynamic approach to how businesses embrace creativity. By adopting a Brand Publishing mindset to communications partnered with a commitment to company culture alignment, KL Communications collaborates with businesses to transform their branding and communications activities.

Ken Lyons

Based on mutual trust and respect, sales representation services grow a partner’s revenue through the provision of a range of sales activities, primarily within the global meetings, incentives, conferences and events industry. Such activity includes direct sales through the organisation and execution of sales missions, participation at industry tradeshows, commitment to relevant industry associations through voluntary work and the organization and execution of client events and familiarization programmes.