Make Tourism of Today a Narrative Industry

By Jose Pinto*

Albania needs to stand out for having millions of narratives and consolidate their position. ‎

The tourism of today and tomorrow goes less by looking at the past and more for imagining where we want to go.

Tourism is a sector that embraces differences, which has offers for all, from January to December, creative, sustainable and safe in all aspects.

Just selling sun and sea or our rivers, mountains etc. is no longer what the new ERA tourism wants. We Must develop a full plan country wide where we should blend and immerge in culture, customs, nature, history, religion or nomadism, with a tourism that today is differentiated by inclusion, diversity and respect for sustainability.

‎Let’s not invent what is already in practice, the basis of tourism in ALBANIA and that are recognized internationally; people, culture, gastronomy, landscape, and seaside. Now the project is to focus on tourism that embraces and formulates new offers for all, that is inclusive and diverse, that takes place all year round and that develops and promotes culture, reduces the environmental impact, promotes equality in distribution of income, contributes to fauna and flora, generates income capable of allowing people better living conditions in all areas of the country focusing on talent development and retention.‎

‎The purpose is to disseminate technology, promote digitization and make tourism of today a narrative industry.

Photo credit Marsel Hasanllari

Source: Pexel

We must be able to create and foment millions of narratives of unforgettable moments create by visitors in the minds of each and every future visitor.

Creative storytelling is defined as the development of unique narratives able to create a sense of community and belonging, engage and interact with any audience, transform followers in promoters, inspire, show the creative process, ideas, invite the audience to be creative and have a stimulating and energetic mind and so on and so forth.

‎The industry demonstrated the ability to

View from Gjirokastra

Photo credit Dajana Reci

resume activity strong after a time it had been forced to be closed, obviously with sweat and tears but we should not be able to be carried away with the idea that this is going to be the trend. Bear in mind that during this period there was also a lot of transformations in digitization and new destinations have come up with what I say new appeals for tourism and other skills were added and others strengthened.

You can see QR codes‎, ‎chat bots‎ popping up every time you click in a subject and several series of experiences to capture new segments that proved opportunities for tourism: nomadism, traveling and working at the same time, prolonged stays etc.‎

‎The challenge is in the air and is to think about the future of tourism in Albania from front to back, ‎backcasting ‎instead ‎of forecasting‎, instead of looking to the past to draw the future, let’s imagine and draw where we want to go. That is the dynamic.

This culture with the notion that the world is now “running” faster in every corner, that competitiveness comes in any moment and that the industry other than our own is also being evolving and creating mixed opportunities.

The empowerment of people is understanding that digitization is an investment and not a cost. Having more agile PEOPLE, ORGANIZATIONS and operations and more horizontal structures, will be key to achieve short term results.

Using the technology, any audience can join in the storytelling process, thus impacting positively on engagement and facilitating the development of long lasting relationships. New digital technologies, particularly the visually oriented social media, have facilitated new tourist experiences based on storytelling and offered new ways to develop and disseminate these experiences through social networks.

The tourist board for promotion should have a significant role in this initiative and involve important partners in the dissemination of information and new ideas in this field. It has been recognized that the creative tourism value is shaped by multiple stakeholders involved in the destination narrative development in an open network based structured.

Mr. Jose Pinto

* With a vast experience in hotel administration and Operations of Branded Hotels / Resorts and Multi-Functional Units in 5 Continents, Jose Pinto is the Founder of JP Hospitality. EU (www.jphospitality.eu ) and Trailblazing Magazine.