Welcoming Multiple Narratives in Travel Marketing

This is the last piece in an in-depth and reflective series on Community-Based Tourism (CBT) written by Elisa Spampinato, a friend of GLP, a fellow storyteller and champion of community-based tourism. We encourage anyone interested in this topic to go back and read the first two pieces (found here and here). Great insights and destination examples to inspire and inform. 

Bridging the Storytelling Gap

As we previously reported in Part 1 of this series on CBT, we are witnessing a worldwide rise in the demand for CBT, which, unfortunately, is not mirrored by a parallel rise in the number of stories being shared from the grassroots level. 

This condemns a universe of extremely important experiences to the margins of the market, not for lack of interest, but, rather, for the lack of direct information shared with the tourists about their impact and significance for the local community, their quality of life and the surrounding biodiversity.

When we observe this frustrating divergence – tourists and communities chasing each other in a blind search – it seems they exist in parallel universes, destined not to meet unless new bridges are built, and new mindsets arise.

Photo by GLP Films

New Modalities, New Marketing

Try to imagine being forced to communicate in a foreign language you are not familiar with, and being thrown into a highly competitive marketplace full of the most modern technology you didn’t even know existed. Marketing and communication could easily be perceived as something out of reach for many local communities, especially if you consider that even basic Internet access is not always guaranteed, not all day long at least.

When, in Part 2, we presented the core idea that CBT is more a modality than simply a tourism product, we came to the conclusion that it is based on different premises and has different goals altogether. It builds its very existence on a different set of values, such as cooperation, solidarity, and equality.

If CBT is a different way of experiencing tourism, shouldn’t we find another way of presenting it to its prospective clients, rather than the traditional tourist-centered approach? Perhaps in a way that could reflect more accurately the community principles embedded in tourism activities – the local values and symbolic systems, the ancestral culture and living heritage.

We strongly believe that traditional travel marketing doesn’t suit the CBT modality, simply because it’s not designed to enhance its essential features. Marketing designed for CBT should carry the energy invested by the community in the project, should speak in their own language and traditional dialects, and not only in a linguistic sense. It should ethically respect the local culture and way of life, aiming to bridge the cultural gaps that often exist between them and the visitors, even if they inhabit the same country. 

Even though, in our opinion, CBT is no longer a niche market, an even greater section of the public could be reached if the community themselves could present the product and experiences they offer and their own way of life.

Marketing is not always in the hands of the community members, and in many cases they rely on company partners for admin and external communication.

However, we know of a universe of small community projects that thrive at the grassroots level and are in charge of their own marketing, but they are unable to emerge and be seen.In both situations there is a lot that could be done to allow these stories to come to the surface, be shared and attract those tourists that are already looking for them. 

Meaningful Stories With Positive Impact

We have already highlighted many of the benefits of CBT in Part 2 and its direct connections with local sustainable development and the SDGs. In a similar way, we believe that when community projects incorporate their own narratives in their marketing of their own products, the effect is astonishing. 

A great example is the work done by ITAC with the Original Original campaign, launched in June 2021. The message is powerful, and from a business perspective the competitive advantage is unlimited. Allowing communities to share their own perspective in the way the experience is conceived and presented is not only innovative, but it also celebrates the diversity and the uniqueness of that place and its core unspoiled treasures. As a result, tourists can broaden their understanding of a place, stimulate their curiosity and plan new discoveries. 

Furthermore, the most valuable impact is, without a doubt, that felt by the communities.

Based on our experience in the Community Storytelling workshop that Traveller Storyteller designs and delivers to CBT projects, the impact on the community is immense. As soon as the community members realize that they can tell their own stories, as soon as their perspective switches, a new world of opportunity opens. In the same vein as the experiences we have through Traveller Storyteller ’s The Postcard Series, the process of telling their own story to the world, and, particularly, seeing it published and spread in other languages through different media channels, is not only a rewarding experience, but also a very self-empowering one. The energy that has been released has a snowball effect, not only for the person directly involved, but, overall, for the whole community and their collective sense of self.

GLP partnered with Visit Portland (Maine, USA)  to develop a video series promoting all-season travel to the destination centered around the arts. Using the voices of the artists, makers and community members who live and work in Greater Portland, the series captures an authentic sense of place as experienced and expressed by the diverse community. 

The Missed Opportunity 

There is something in this picture that bothers us in a visceral way.

We acknowledge the communities as the real grassroots storytellers, and know that even the most talented journalist or travel writer needs to really connect and bond with them to get the most meaningful and valuable stories. Because, after all, they are the story.

However, it seems like a piece is missing in the chain, or – more appropriately for the context – a black hole has been growing, where stories are swallowed up, and a feeble shadow of the original tale evaporates into the atmosphere, unnoticed.

On the internal level, it is a combination of self-perception and old twisted habits that has led community members to not consider themselves as storytellers, while they are, in fact, the  authentic ones. Many times it is also the case that locals cannot see with enough clarity the value that their living traditions represent for the world, and the richness that the experience they provide signifies for the tourists. 

On the external level, operators often run at such full speed in their operations and, unfortunately, the time to dig into the field and collect grassroots stories is not always available. Sometimes, it is also a question of not knowing how to approach communities, and fitting them into the pre-existing marketing formats becomes undoable.

So, what do we need that it is missing? Obviously we need a variety of narratives that can only come from the grassroots level, as well as new channels by which to bring them to the tourists’ attention.

We are starting to see the innovation and bold attitudes of some tourism boards that are introducing a different focus and starting to share the value of their local communities, protecting them both from disappearance and disrespect. The Ugandan and Kenyan tourism boards have joined the list of those who intend to create a new image of their own country, by including new layers of meaning to the bigger pictures.

Although we see images of local communities in the new commercials, we still don’t hear their own voices, spoken loudly.

We hope that will be the next step.

Photo by GLP Films

Embracing Radical Transformation

In the process of thinking about a possible solution to this dramatic impasse – amazing stories and great possibilities for transformational experience, paired with inadequate marketing and zero visibility – the solution cannot simply consist of showing a beautiful bird locked in a tiny cage. People should be able to see it freely performing twirlings in the air and singing, untamed, in the trees.

If we really want to invest in storytelling as a tool for positive transformation in our industry, we need to assume a radically different approach to the matter. An approach that is able to connect, like an extendible bridge that stretches to the tourists’ feet and supports them in taking the first step into unknown cultural realities.

We need more communities telling their own stories; we need to assume a more ethnographic approach when we establish contact with them, to allow the grassroots voices to remain authentic while they reach the interested audience.

As travel writers, journalists, influencers, communicators and marketing-people we need to spend more time on the ground with an open heart and soul to experience and feel the power of unmediated cultural connections. We need to assume a long-term commitment with the communities to help their stories to reach further, and, very importantly, we need a remedy to the lack of space in our traditional marketing channels, and, necessarily, to be bold and envision new ones where possible. 

And rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, we need a combination of actions that involve a variety of actors with different perspectives. The responsibility should be shared, and lead to a collective solution.