Presentation to the Sustainable Tourism Certification Alliance Africa meeting in Durban, May 8th 2014

1. Beyond CSR and Sustainability
or why be responsible/sustainable?
Anna Pollock, Founder, Conscious Travel
Sustainable Tourism Certification Alliance Africa
3rd
Annual Conference
May 8th
2014

2. Why is Change Necessary?

3. “Business As Usual” Won’t Work!
“population growth,
exploitation of natural
resources, climate change
and other factors are putting
the world on a development
trajectory that is not
sustainable…if we fail to alter
our patterns of production
and consumption, things will
begin to go badly wrong”

4. Costs and Risks to Increase
“ The resources on which businesses rely will
become more difficult to access and more
costly.
There will be an increasing strain on
infrastructure and natural systems as patterns
of economic growth and wealth change.
Physical assets and supply chains will be
affected by the unpredictable results of a
warming world”

5. Opportunities Also Exist
“the bold, the visionary and
the innovative recognise
that what is good for
people and the planet will
also be good for the long-
term bottom line and
shareholder value…
competitive advantage can
be carved out of emerging
risk.”

6. • 50 sources of risk
• All connected in ways
we don’t fully
understand
• Could converge into
“the perfect storm”
• Use of the term
“resilience” is on the
rise

7. Change Drivers

8. Sixth Mass Extinction
Losing a language every two weeks

10. Wealth Concentration

11. Debt

12. Huge breakthroughs in science
and technology
More knowledge
Connectivity……

13. people and things
Potentially everyone and everything is
connected to everyone, all the time,
from anywhere

14. Digital Connectivity: Facebook Connections

15. Analogue Connectivity: Airline Connections

16. More knowledge
Travelling further and faster
So that …..
Change is accelerating in pace
Power shifting from companies to
people

17. The Present Paradox
Wealth is concentrating; knowledge
and power are dispersing...
Connectivity leads to instability and
volatility………….???????????????

18. The Pentagon’s Analysis

19. + +
=

21. The NEW Consumer
21

22. New Consumers still want MORE, but they are
defining that differently.
Now they seek more meaning, more deeply felt
connections, more substance, more control, a
greater sense of purpose and assuming more
responsibility.
22
In Africa’s source markets

23. Why the term “Conscious”?

24. The Conscious Consumer Report, 2009, BBMG 24

25. 25
•66% of consumers would
prefer to buy products
from companies that give
back to society
•62% would prefer to work
for such companies
•59% would prefer to invest
in such companies
•46% would be willing to
pay extra for products and
services from these
companies
DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS:
2012

26. 26
What Does a Conscious Traveller look like?
• Curious
• Seeks Immersive experiences
• Local, authentic providers
• Off beaten track
• Niche
• Information Hungry
• Mindful – most of the time
• Open to transformation
• Highly connected
• Can be slowed down
• Willing to pay if needs met

27. Tourism Evidence
27

28. 28
People don’t grow, they develop

29. 29

30. Connectivity + Content
•= Transparency
•= Importance of Reputation
•= Need for Innovation
•= Need for Talent
•= Need for Integrity
Companies are Valued Differently Now
30

31. The Humanisation of Business
Culture is everything
Culture is the sum of your values,
beliefs, behaviours and sense of
PURPOSE

32. 32
Purpose Must Precede Profit
Purpose + Passion = Performance & Profit

33. BUSINESS IS RE-THINKING ITSELF

34. CONSCIOUS CAPITALISTS
•Whole Foods
•Southwest Airlines
•Zappos
•The Container Store
•Google
•Amazon
•Joie de Vivre
T = Trust
A = Authenticity
C = Caring
T = Transparency
I = Integrity
L = Learning
E = Empowerment

35. Sustainable Brands – Beyond CSR
• NOT: how do we comply
BUT
• How do we make money
and grow profit by making
the world a better place?
• How do we identify with the
key issues of the day and
become a valued agent for
change?
• How we in tourismleverage
their influence to accelerate
sustainability?
35

36. How Do We Change our Mindset?

37. Mainstream Tourism on the other hand..

39. Now Suffering the long-term effects
• Volatility
• DIMINISHING RETURNS
• Lower net benefit
accruing to the host
community
• Not all tourists are the
same
• Unchecked tourism can
do more harm than
good?
• Not all tourism is
desirable
• Choices have to be made
90% + of demand
factors outside of the
control of anyone in
tourism
39

40. Has Mass Tourism Outlived its Usefulness?

42. Why Be Responsible?
1. Save money
2. Attract conscious, mindful travellers who will
spend more, stay longer, travel further
3. Protect your reputation today; “licence to operate
tomorrow”
42

43. • Save Money
• Reputation today; “licence to operate
tomorrow”
43
Why Be Responsible?

44. 44

45. 45

46. Why Be Responsible?
1. Save money
2. Attract conscious, mindful travellers who will
spend more, stay longer, travel further
3. Protect your reputation today; “licence to operate
tomorrow”
4. Employee recruitment, retention and engagement
5. Guest engagement, referral, returns & raves
6. Resource protection – nature and culture
7. Improve performance, vitality, resilience
46

47. When you want to build a ship,
you don’t start collecting wood,
cutting planks and distributing
work, but waken in the heart of
people, a longing for the
great and endless sea.
Antoine St Expury
47
Why not be more than responsible?

48. You never change things by fighting
existing reality,
You change something, build a new
model that makes the existing
model obsolete
Buckminter Fuller
48
Why not build something better?

49. PURPOSE
Why not help our guests see
the world & each other differently?
As kin responsible for the health of

50. Because tourism is not an Industry
It’s an Ecosystem
50

51. What might a better tourism look like?
51

52. Why not…
move our guests from numbness to aliveness
from indifference to empathy?
Rediscover some meaning & purpose to their
lives?
52
have our guests experience wonder?

53. can “read the love letters sent by the
wind and the rain, the snow and the
moon”
Why not – help our guests fall in love
with life and Mother Earth
so that they too
53

54. 54
One generation to shift the relationship between
Humans and Mother Earth:
•From Ignorance to Curiosity
•From Superiority to Respect
•From Mean-spiritedness to Gratitude
•From Extraction to Regeneration
•From Indifference to Activism
•From Disdain to Love

55. 55
Africa can help bring us back to our own true nature
Africa can bring us back home
Isn’t that reason enough?

56. 56
Conscious Travel
not more but better
Better for more
www.conscious.travel
• A model
• A learning
program
• A network
www.slideshare.net/AnnaP