The power of travel is pure poetry
As this is a business publication, most of you are expecting a fact filled article on the power of travel and the multiplier economic impact of overnight hotel stays. Those really are my favorite topics, however, please indulge me as I wax poetic about the power of travel.
Those of us in the tourism and hospitality fields are by nature good hosts. Nothing makes our day more exciting than welcoming someone into our restaurant, hotel, store or community. In fact, even our vernacular reflects our welcoming attitude. We refer to our customers as "guests" in the same way you do as someone is staying in your own home.
The sense of home is truly an important part of our organization's mission of tourism promotion. We want our visitors to enjoy their time in the Chicago Northwest region. Current trends show the same desire from visitors. They want to make their travel experience "feel like a local" or be "off the beaten path."
Our guests come for many reasons from attending professional conferences, corporate travel, youth sports weekends or to just have a weekend away at a really nice hotel. These folks add to our local economy as they dine, sleep, shop and buy gas for their ride home.
Our communities and partners value our guests so much that you are seeing a continual reinvestment and sprucing up of their "homes." Cast your eye around our Northwest region and you note active investment in highway infrastructure, arts, attractions and the renovation and addition of hotels. These quality of life investments both attract the visitor and benefit the resident.
This regional feeling of "pride in our home" is the basis of successful tourism promotion. It is the core of Destination Development. The result of many community partners working collectively to build our region into an attractive destination for visitors and a great destination for future residents and businesses.
If you reflect on it, the magic of travel is pondering and dreaming what it would be like to live where you are visiting. And if you are deciding to move somewhere for a career or lifestyle change, for sure you going to visit first!
Now to poetry of travel! A friend of mine, Maura Gast, executive director of the Visit Irving (Texas) Convention and Visitors Bureau, is a true industry visionary. She has summed up the power of travel in a poem that reflects a circle of life of why travel is destination development:
Destination Development's - Circle of Life
Build a place people want to visit, and you'll build a place where people want to live. Build a place where people want to live, and you'll build a place where people want to work. Build a place where people want to work, and you'll build a place where business has to be. Build a place where business has to be, and you'll build a place where people have to visit.
We talk of the power of travel in many ways: To rest and restore us, to broaden our horizons, to fulfill us, and for us to convene to do business.
But remember the ongoing circle of economic power to improve and sustain our communities and our lives. Please also think of the power of travel to affect what we might be.
• Dave Parulo is president of Meet Chicago Northwest.
Build a place people want to visit, and you'll build a place where people want to live. Build a place where people want to live, and you'll build a place where people want to work. Build a place where people want to work, and you'll build a place where business has to be. Build a place where business has to be, and you'll build a place where people have to visit.