Flickr photo by Shira Golding
If we, the ‘Local Travel‘ lobby want to make a real difference in the way people travel then it will not be achieved by trying to convert ourselves in perpetuity in these travel blogs.
Be heard, be active, take the argument where it makes a difference
Let’s face it, who else reads these but the same people that are already traveling local?… We are preaching to the converted, ourselves.
We are not initiating real change, we are reassuring each other that we are doing the right thing. Good for us! But 95% of the world still ‘Holidays’ oblivious of all our efforts. Our approach is as effective as advertising in a vacuum…
If you really want to influence the way the world travels then go where you can make the greatest noise (take a page from the Greenpeace book). Be heard, be active, take the argument (preferably in a non confrontational manner) where it makes a difference… in the middle of the ‘Holidayers camp’ so to speak.
Continue reading this article on Make Travel Fair
Hi John,
This is a very good point. Tripadvisor is certainly one place to catch people not normally in our space however I thin that we …as the local travel movement …can probably do a whole lot more on many levels if we put our minds to it.
Cheers……. Len
Posted by Len Cordiner | July 11, 2010, 7:49 amHi John,
I also agree that at the moment TripAvisor is probably the best way to catch individual travellers, even if I am wondering why this mean had a so big success when in most cases the reviews not always seem to be authentic…..
BTW I think that the LTM is doing a lot for small local travel companies like us, as it is networking many companies all over the world who share the same philosophy.. Living in a little town in Italy it would be impossible to me to have the chance to stay in touch with such a big number of “collegues” and share ideas…I see that the movement is growing and I am sure that we’ll get important results in every sense …but it takes time…
Rome was not built in a day…
Cheers
Alessandra – Umbria – Italy
Posted by Discovering Umbria | July 12, 2010, 3:07 pmCara Alessandra, Dear John
To be more active and preach over all minds like John invites us to do, it is fantastic to use these means like the LTM blog, would it be just for the purposes mentioned by Alessandra.
Let’s help each other to be active !
Cheers
Jerome
Posted by Jerome | July 28, 2010, 2:39 pm