The following is a the model of the way we approach all of our tourism development work at Uncornered Market. It provides a foundation and explanation of how our work plays out at the intersection of interaction and shared benefit between communities, travelers, and tourism and travel businesses.
It forms the foundation of our work. It’s the mindset we carry to all project contexts. And we do it naturally, intuitively. You’ll find markers of it in all of our work — product development, destination development, marketing, sustainable tourism advocacy or facilitation.
The Backstory of the Uncornered Market model
The genesis of the model’s current form was a talk we gave World Travel and Tourism Council’s Global Summit in 2019. Together with Tourism Cares, we spoke on the topic of of social enterprise, community based product development and how the tourism industry can better integrate social purpose and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) into their products and supply chain, rather than through one-off events and contributions.
During our presentation we shared our model — the three layers of positive impact intersecting — for communities, travelers and travel companies. We did so to the surprise and delight of the crowd. This model not only resonates, but it translates into implementation and action.
The reality: this is the way we have thought about travel and the travel industry since we got started. It takes work and commitment, but we’ve seen it happen in our projects.
“One of the most meaningful impact tools I saw at WTTC’s Global Summit in Seville, for any business to create shared and durable prosperity” – Derek Hydon, President, MaCher
Let’s Work Together
It makes sense, doesn’t it? But not everyone works this way. Nor can they deliver these results. That’s where our special approach and execution comes in.
Replicable. Measurable. Scalable. Market driven.
How Uncornered Market Works at the Intersection of Communities, Travelers and Tourism Businesses
For a more detailed description of Uncornered Market advisory, expertise and services, please check out our Work With Us page and Capability Statement. If you’d like to discuss project needs and working together, get in touch to start the conversation.
Tourism Businesses
- Source and Evaluate Local Community Organizations: Identify and evaluate the universe of possible local partners (e.g., community organizations and social enterprises) for potential investment, partnership, tourism product development, and supply chain integration.
- Community Based Product Development & Integration:Train and build workforce capacity in community organizations and social enterprise to ensure tourism product is market ready and customized for target demographics and travel style.
- Purpose-Driven Branding, Messaging and Marketing: Values-based messaging — when done well — can demonstrate integration of purpose and social impact into the business model and product. Transparent, holistic integration of social purpose and corporate social responsibility (CSR) into your tourism business and product vs. one-off events that are external to your core business.
Communities and Destinations
- Destination and DMO Development: Meet with different community and tourism stakeholders to understand tourism and community development goals and challenges. Listen, learn, and understand.
- Tourism Assessment and Positioning: Surface cultural, culinary, historical and natural strengths to create a unique destination positioning that highlights these local features and differentiates it regionally and nationally. Identify the universe of possible local partners (community organizations, social enterprises, small businesses & individuals) and assess local supply chain. Align with market trends and demands to identify destination and product development opportunities.
- Community Based Product Development and Training: Identify new tourism product ideas that leverage community strengths (aligned with community positioning) and connect travelers to local culture and people. Training on tourism product design, organization, pricing and delivery (e.g., importance of storytelling). Testing, iteration and packaging of tourism products to achieve market readiness.
- Promotion, Market Access and Linkages: Market segment analysis and development of B2B and B2C marketing strategy for promotion of community tourism products to create market linkages to inbound and international outbound tour operators and to travel consumers.
Travelers
- Connection to Communities, Experiences and Social Purpose Organizations: Creating inspirational and engaging content that connects travelers to these destinations, community based experiences and the travel companies who share similar values.
- Awareness Campaigns: Travelers are making deliberate decisions about where they visit, how they spend their money, and how they can align their actions with their values. They want their travels to benefit the communities and people they visit, and not do unintended harm. Uncornered Market plays an important role in raising awareness with travel consumers of these issues connected to overtourism, child welfare, voluntourism, sustainability, and environmental conservation.
This is a journey. This is also a human exercise. Get in touch.
Tourism Development and Consulting Services
Get in touch!
Tell us about the project you have in mind and how we might be able to help you achieve your goals. Then the magic begins.