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Becoming better stewards of our places, and alongside our communities, requires us to understand not only the principles of destination stewardship but the foundational elements that help make our ideas tangible, actionable and effective. As tourism organizations begin moving toward a destination stewardship approach in how they manage destinations, the Wayfinder’s framework offers a structured path to create and advance stewardship strategies—whether that’s developing a destination stewardship plan from the ground up or finding opportunities to enhance existing community engagement initiatives.
Regardless of your starting point or your destination’s unique priorities and circumstances, explore five success enabling principles for implementing an effective destination stewardship approach that contributes to the long-term sustainability and resiliency of a place.
Destination Stewardship Framework
Composed of nine key modules, the Wayfinder’s best-practice framework for destination stewardship can be broken down into five success enablers, each of which set the foundation for tourism organizations to improve four stewardship outcomes, also known as guiding principles.
Four Guiding Principles
The four guiding principles for destination stewardship help destination organizations to balance community needs with visitor needs while still providing a transformational visitor experience.
- Economic Prosperity: The economic prosperity principle encourages destination organizations to maximize local economic opportunities, equitable job creation, entrepreneurship, use of local supply chains and income generation, while minimizing negative impacts on the local economy.
- Environmental Preservation & Ecological Balance: This principle emphasizes the preservation and protection of a destination’s natural resources, ecosystems and biodiversity. By involving the community and visitors in stewardship efforts, tourism can be used as a catalyst for positive climate and environmental action.
- Social Well-Being: The social well-being principle involves engaging with marginalized communities, supporting local initiatives, ensuring safety, accessibility and ethical conduct, and measuring collective impact to create a vibrant community with equal opportunities and benefits for all.
- Identification & Preservation of Culture & Heritage: This principle engages Indigenous and marginalized communities in safeguarding their cultural identity, traditions and heritage and educating community residents and visitors about the destination’s history, customs and culturally significant sites.
Five Success Enablers
Like any destination management strategy, effective destination stewardship benefits from practices that set a strong foundation, from establishing a clear governance framework to fostering shared decision-making between public and private sectors and the community. The five success enablers in the Wayfinder framework serve as vital building blocks, enabling tourism organizations to implement a balanced approach to economic, environmental, community and cultural considerations.
Management Structure & Framework
A well-crafted management structure and governance framework not only facilitates efficient operations but fosters resilience, responsiveness and accountability. This principle encourages destination organizations to establish a clear sense of direction and long-term vision based on purpose, values and roles.
Supporting industry-related policies, developing a responsive funding model, and integrating diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility practices are critical components of the management structure and framework principle. With clear governance and an action plan in place, destination organizations can fortify their capacity to steer towards sustainable development while upholding the values of equity, resilience and community prosperity.
Stakeholder Engagement
Engaging stakeholders is essential for sustainable destination development and community-based tourism that builds trust, transparency and accountability. Under the context of destination stewardship, this principle entails actively involving and collaborating with entities and individuals that are impacted by tourism in planning, development and decision-making processes.
Collaborating with industry partners such as hotels, tour operators and attractions fosters synergy, promotes product development and enhances the overall visitor experience. On the other hand, engaging local communities ensures their participation, ownership and support for tourism initiatives while also mitigating potential negative impacts. Whether it’s industry organizations, residents or visitors, soliciting feedback and conducting sentiment research across all parties will enable destination organizations to better understand stakeholder needs and preferences in order to continuously improve and innovate.
Resiliency, Risk & Crisis Management
Building resilient destinations is critical to safeguarding the reputation and economic viability of a place. The resilience, risk and crisis management principle encourages destination organizations to proactively identify, assess and mitigate risks by investing in risk management protocols and crisis response mechanisms. In the face of evolving circumstances and uncertainties such as public health crises and climate-related disasters, destination organizations can confidently navigate challenges while minimizing adverse impacts and expediting recovery efforts.
Brand, Marketing & Communications
A destination stewardship approach still holds brand, marketing and communications as an imperative responsibility for destination organizations. This principle amplifies a destination’s allure by authentically capturing the essence of a place in alignment with local community values. Embracing a destination’s unique identity, destination organizations may seek to understand evolving consumer preferences and values via market research and identify marketing strategies that attract responsible visitors and drive destination development.
By strategically leveraging brand, marketing and communications initiatives, destination organizations can effectively showcase the destination’s unique attributes, inviting visitors to partake in its offerings while fostering meaningful connections with local communities.
Destination Development
Improving a destination’s competitiveness and sustainability is inevitably tied to enhancing visitor experience, fostering economic growth and promoting community well-being. Under the destination development principle, destination organizations may consider adopting a future-fit mindset capable of innovation in response to changing contexts and shifting traveler preferences.
To enhance the visitor experience while preserving cultural and natural assets, destination development strategies, ranging from visitor journey mapping and infrastructure development to capability building for industry stakeholders, should consider supporting operators in creating fulfilling experiences for visitors while maximizing the positive impacts of tourism on the destination’s economy, environment and communities.
Vibrant and Flourishing Communities
Together, these five success enablers support tourism organizations in developing essential destination strategies that put community at the heart of decision-making. Leveraging the foundations laid, destinations can begin creating balance between visitors and residents, fostering vibrant and flourishing communities. Learn more about the first industry-led, evidence-based framework for destination stewardship when you schedule a demo of the Wayfinder.