If the same keynote is still valid after 4 years - we have a problem

At the Rentlio Rediscover conference Marko Misulic in his introductory lecture he published this photo and I could not imagine a better illustration of the state in which a large part of our industry is.

"If the same keynote still applies, even after 4 years, maybe the industry has a problem."

And yes, I completely agree. If we say the same things "four years in a row" and the system works the same, then there is a problem. The problem is in the way management.

I don't write reviews to "criticize". I don't ask questions to be negative.

I do this because I want tourism to move forward.

Because if Marko has been repeating the same narrative at the conference for "four years":

digitalization, data, AI, points out the same examples from practice... and I will soon be 10 years old: business processes, management, destinations, local economy... then it is normal to ask where is the catch22?

Because we know that we can and must do it faster and better, but in practice it changes too slowly.

Because tourism is not "by feel".

Tourism is system, process and management.

And a business process means: structure, management, goals, accountability and continuous improvement. And yes, there is a question (just one part of the parameter) and price if you want, i.e. value for money, but not the price of ice cream scoops, but we have to work benchmarking with competing destinations.

In my opinion, our competition has always been and is France, Italy and Spain, not Greece, Turkey... especially today when our tourism product has "matured".

Who comes to them, what they spend on, what they consume, what their product is, the quality of service...

All the ingredients are there. All that's missing is action.

We have all the resources, all the knowledge, all the ingredients, and all the prerequisites, but it's as if we're constantly standing by the stove and saying, “We'll start cooking soon.” Tourism is not made of ingredients, but of action.

And everything, absolutely everything, begins and ends with a destination: how it is managed, who makes decisions, what goals it has, what signals it sends to the market and what kind of experience it delivers to the guest. Everyone else comes to that base.

And here it seems to be the other way around, i.e. everyone is developing "their" tourism for themselves, struggling and struggling, without that key synergy and destination context. Synergy is also the transfer of knowledge, information, learning, standards and growth of everyone in the destination - ultimately the same direction and goal.

That's why I asked Marko at the conference: where is the destination in the whole story? The destination must be the center of attention because it is the glue that connects us all, as well as the motive for coming. The destination provides rhythm, pace, direction and meaning, or at least it should.

And finally, a key difference that we often forget: desire vs. goal.

Desire is imagination. An imaginary picture of a better tomorrow, but without action.

The goal is a process: action, decision, responsibility, change, and a concrete step.

It is time to move from the mindset of "we want better" to the mindset of management, goals and specific business processes.

The biggest cost in tourism? Staying the same while the world moves forward.

The biggest cost in tourism is staying the same while the world moves forward. Stagnation means decline because others are growing and jazz is getting bigger. Especially today in the era of never-faster change - digitalization of AI in tourism. Btw which are just tools, not the meaning. The destination is the meaning. 

Croatian tourism can and must do much more, but only if we start managing it and not waiting for a new season.

Only then will Mark's keynote from 2025 no longer be valid in 2029 and only then can we say that we are truly moving forward.

Author: Goran Rihelj,

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