Distancing meetings from leisure travel

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SEPARANDO LAS REUNIONES
DE LOS VIAJES DE PLACER
DISTANCING MEETINGS FROM
LEISURE TRAVEL
Debería ser una Prioridad para Todos
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Joint Meetings Industry Council Executive Director Rod
Cameron argues that our failure to emphasize the distinction between leisure and meetings-related travel hurts us
all in the long run.
Algo frecuente en la industria de reuniones por varios años
se ha convertido en un tema urgente, debido a la recesión
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placer sobre los que se realizan con propósitos de negocios.
Something that has haunted the meetings industry for many
years has now become a matter of real urgency, courtesy
of the global recession and its fallout. That “something” is
our collective failure to more clearly distinguish between
travel for personal and leisure oriented reasons and that
which is undertaken for business purposes.
La razón por la que es tan importante es que quienes
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reuniones, convenciones, exposiciones y conferencias,
así como aquellos que deciden quiénes deben participar,
están muy sensibles a la aparición de los eventos como un
simple vehículo para el disfrute personal a cargo de gastos
públicos o corporativos. De hecho, solamente la palabra
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fundamental para el desarrollo económico y profesional.
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este punto, con el resultado que cualquier sugerencia de los
participantes a un evento de ciertos sectores como el área
médica participando de reuniones en busca de entretenimiento personal más que involucrarse en el desarrollo profesional
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The reason this is so important is that those who make
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conventions, exhibitions and conferences, as well as those
who decide who should attend them, are now highly sensitive to the appearance of such events as simply vehicles
for personal enjoyment at public or corporate expense.
In fact, just the word “tourism” in association with such
events suggests that their real purpose is something other
than their actual role as a primary tool for economic and
professional development.
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professional codes and even legislation aimed at exactly
this point, with the result that any suggestion of event attendees from certain sectors like the medical area attending
meetings to pursue personal enjoyment rather than to
engage in business or professional development can be
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Al mismo tiempo, muchos gobiernos han implementado
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por motivos de reuniones como una primera medida de
ahorro, ilustrando claramente que la preocupación a este
respecto es solamente teórica.
At the same time, many governments have implemented
restrictions or outright bans on meetings-related travel as
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concerns in this regard are anything but theoretical.
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decisión y, aún peor, hemos cruzado la línea continuando
la promoción de destinos de reuniones y hasta la participación en base a la calidad de las playas, campos de golf
y vida nocturna-, una práctica que perpetúa la noción que
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accionista o quien paga impuestos sería casi imposible racionalizar la participación, que cuenta por los tipos de desafíos
We in the industry haven’t done much to encourage such
a distinction and, even worse, actually blurred the lines by
continuing to promote meetings destinations and even attendance on the basis of leisure qualities like beaches, golf
courses and nightlife - a practice that perpetuates the notion
that business travel is in fact a thinly disguised excuse for
a holiday paid for by someone else. When that “someone”
is a shareholder or taxpayer it becomes almost impossible
to rationalize participation, which accounts for the kinds
JMIC
que hemos visto recientemente como los llamados para
la reducción en la participación a las reuniones por parte
de gobiernos y corporaciones en varias partes del mundo.
of challenges we’ve seen recently like ongoing calls for
reductions in meetings participation by governments and
corporations in various parts of the world.
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en el retorno asociado a las reuniones y convenciones sino
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infraestructura y servicios en hospitalidad que este sector
apoya. Los perdedores serán tanto los proveedores de
productos y servicios turísticos como toda la economía
que depende de la interacción relacionada con los eventos
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profesionales y académicos.
Over the long term this failure to distinguish these two
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in our promotional activities - will ultimately reduce the
aggregate amount of global travel, and impact not only
the revenues associated with meetings and conventions
themselves but also the associated travel and even
incremental investment in hospitality infrastructure and
services that this sector supports. The losers will be both
those providing travel products and services as well as the
broader economy that depends on business event-related
interactions to advance their economic, professional and
academic objectives.
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inevitable y fuera de disputa, pero también lo es el hecho
que tanto nosotros como ellos nos dañamos con esa asociación cuando resulta en una menor participación en los
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a dispararnos en ambos pies al mismo tiempo.
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both inevitable and beyond dispute, but so is the fact that
both we and they are damaged by the association when it
results in less support for participation in business events.
In other words, we risk shooting ourselves in both feet at
the same time.
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3ULPHUR, una gran parte de la industria y de algunos de
nuestros socios del sector turístico simplemente no parecen
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en comprender que una audiencia muy diferente requiere
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Why, then, are we not addressing the problem? A few
possibilities suggest themselves;
First, there is a large part of our industry and that of our
sometimes partners in the tourism sector that simply don’t
seem to see it as a problem. For those that have always
regarded leisure-related qualities as the best possible way
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in understanding that a very different audience requires a
very different message.
Segundo, hemos caido en la trampa de medir el valor
primario de la industria en base al gasto, y particularmente
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cuenta son las noches de hotel y comidas en restaurantes
en lugar de los valores inherentes a la realización de reuQLRQHV(VWHHQIRTXHQRVROREDMDHOYDORUGHORVORJURVGH
nuestra industria sino también tiene el efecto desafortunado
de antagonizar a nuestros clientes que preferirían que
el valor de sus eventos sea visto como un resultado de
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sus miembros en algún destino.
Secondly, we have fallen into the trap of measuring industry
value primarily on the basis of spending, and particularly
spending related to hospitality revenues. Again, this creates
the strong impression that it’s the hotel stays and restaurant
meals that really count rather than the values inherent in
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only vastly undervalues what this industry really achieves
but also has the unfortunate effect of antagonizing our
clients who would much prefer to have the value of their
events seen as the professional and business outcomes
rather than the money left behind by their members in
somebody else’s destination.
Tercero, la principales fuentes de fondos para la promoción
de un destino son controladas en varias áreas por razones históricas por quienes tienen una orientación turística
más que de eventos de negocios –y ha sido difícil hacer
entender que lo nuestro es un negocio antes que una venta
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turismo en varios países y comunidades es usualmente
más fuerte hacia el lado vacacional. A tal punto que terceras
partes realizan la promoción en nuestro nombre –y poniendo el énfasis potencialmente en el lugar equivocado-, por
lo que seguiremos sufriendo las consecuencias.
Third, the primary sources of funding for destination promotion are in many areas controlled for historic reasons by
those with more of a tourism than business events orientation – and it has been a tough sell to make the case that
ours is a business rather than a tourism sell, if only because
the relative size of the tourism lobby in many countries
or communities is usually much more heavily weighted
toward the leisure side. To the extent that we have what
are essentially third parties marketing on our behalf – and
potentially putting the emphasis in the wrong place – we
will continue to suffer the consequences.
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3HUR VL HO QRPEUH GHO MXHJR HV VDFDU HO Pi[LPR EHneficio de nuestra inversión en el sector de reuniones
–como seguramente debe ser si le prestan atención-,
necesitamos discutir sobre el reconocimiento de formas
totalmente diferentes en los cuales los mercados asociados deben dirigirse a estos dos sectores totalmente
diferentes.
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out of the investments made in the meetings sector – as
it surely must be if anyone is really paying attention – we
need to get beyond turf discussions and into a recognition
of the fundamentally different ways in which the markets
associated with these two very different sectors must be
addressed.
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YLDMHVYDFDFLRQDOHV\GHUHXQLRQHVWULYLDOL]DPRVQXHVtro papel en el desarrollo profesional y económico global, amenazando nuestra competitividad individual en
el mercado y ofendiendo a varios de nuestros clientes
más importantes, y esto no tiene sentido para cualquier
destino que quiera alcanzar los diversos beneficios
asociados con el éxito del sector de reuniones. Cuanto
antes pongamos distancia entre estas dos áreas será
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industria tomemos alguna acción hacia realinearnos con
los sectores que realmente cuentan en la economía acWXDO\ORJUDUXQPHMRUFRQRFLPLHQWRFRQQXHVWURVVRFLRV
del turismo para clarificar la diferencia entre nuestras
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que al final beneficiará a todos.
In short, by failing to make a clear distinction between
leisure and meetings-related travel, we are trivializing our
real role in global economic and professional development,
threatening our individual competitiveness in the market
and offending some of our most important clients, and that
just doesn’t make sense for any destination that wants to
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meetings sector. The sooner we put some distance between
these two areas the better all around, but that will only
happen when we as an industry take some action toward
re-aligning ourselves with the sectors that really count in
today’s economy and achieving a better understanding with
our tourism partners that clarifying the difference between
our respective audiences and their travel motivations will
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