By understanding ourselves and becoming more aware of these differences, we become more capable of adjusting to new situations throughout our lifetimes as learners.

You might have heard the saying; “Anyone can learn, not just on the same day or in the same way.” So, every individual’s learning style, speed and capacity are different, and everybody can learn when a proper learning environment is provided. What should be done is to identify how learners learn the best and make it easier for them to learn efficiently. The learning environment should also be arranged according to the learning style. In this way, personalized learning experiences can be offered accordingly.

So can we say; Your “learning style” is the best learning style? Yes, indeed. Each individual has a unique learning style and a preferred method of learning and remembering.

What are those different learning styles?

VARK learning styles aim to reveal how individuals exchange information and how they prefer to process that information. It is a valuable model that educators should keep in mind when trying to create a variety of learning content to attract attention.

• V: Visual learners: They conserve new information through visual representations of concepts (ie. graphics, pictures, photographs and diagrams)
• A: Auditory learners: They receive information through sounds, stories, discussions, lecture-style presentations, and podcasts.
• R: Read/Write learners: They use lists, written descriptions, note-taking and articles to learn.
• K: Kinesthetic learners: They simply touch, try to feel and move around to absorb information.

One learning style is not better or worse than the other. Everyone uses all learning styles throughout their lives but prefers the one more.

Would you like to discover your learning style? The questionnaire is here!

How can you create learning experiences that appeal to different learning styles?

Some researches have shown that the learners learn best through “multi-modal” learning if educators address different learning styles at the same time. Multi-modal learning incorporates the brain into more than one learning style at the same time using different formats and environments.

For example, a video lecture with captions and a downloadable pdf, use visual, auditory, and written learning styles. By combining learners’ different learning styles, educators can create an ideal learning environment for many learners at the same time.

David Lazear, an author and a multi-intelligence expert, summarizes the importance and the value of the multimodal learning strategy as follows;

“What does multi-modal learning mean? In a nutshell, it means that the more different ways you learn something the more you will really learn it! The more different ways you learn something, the more you will remember it! The more different ways you learn something, the more you will genuinely understand it!”

David Lazear

At LVG Learning, we know that tourism professionals can learn at their own pace and through a range of formats is the fundamentals of effective learning. In our ‘learning experience’ design processes, we use a multimodal learning strategy to increase understanding and recall of the information.

We care to offer learning opportunities through visual, auditory, written and kinesthetic ways rather than one-dimensional learning experiences. For more information, please read the destination learning journeys page.

Sources:

• https://www.enocta.com/blog/farkli-ogrenme-stillerine-uygun-ogrenme-deneyimleri-yaratmak/
• https://vark-learn.com/

The business life and the private life, just like nature is, actually very simple and integral systems. The basic knowledge we have; everything is interconnected and interdependent with each other.

If you are doing business with the direct or indirect point of the travel industry, you are also a part of the Destination eLearning Ecosystem.

While “Destination e-Learning is already a new definition on its own, what is the ecosystem that encompasses it?

Basically, the destination e-learning ecosystem is the comprehensive structure starting from the promotional decision of a city, country or region, to the two travellers completing their travel by touching a minimum of 50 different suppliers in their travel story.

In the past, all operations were on the basic marketing ways and destination promotions were standard in general marketing activities for both B2B and B2C.

But today, with the uncertainty in tourism, the promotion and the marketing activities of destinations are carried out in hybrid solutions with classical methods and with the help of new technologies.

So for the future, we have to ask some questions first before choosing a direction;

1. You can make your destination more valuable if you create demand. So how are you going to create tomorrow’s demand starting today?

2. Who is the final decision maker you need to educate: Traveler? Travel advisor? Tour Operator?

3. On the one side, there are tourism offices that have not fully utilized the power of digital marketing yet, and on the other hand, tourism offices are trying to adapt to the new normal. So, what will be the new standards in destination promotions in this competition?

4. Technology is now going faster than ever. Each of us liked or got bored in webinars and video conferences so far. What will a long-term destination marketing investment be like to keep the engagement alive?

The Answers within The Questions:

Tourism offices need to add digital learning to digital marketing strategies and create their own ecosystems. But remember, an ecosystem may be healthy or unhealthy, able to survive on its own or needs help, just like nature itself.

From the hotels to the airlines in destinations, the city guides, restaurants, museums and suppliers, tourism has a very large impact on capacity. Now, we all know by our hearts, the domino role of tourism in the whole economy. Therefore, the responsibility on the shoulders of tourism offices, NTOs, DMOs, CVBs is very heavy and critical. Spotlights are now turning on them.

Digital learning is a new industry if we compare it with tourism, which has been developing for 20 years and has created giant awareness in the last few years. As with every new development, there are lots of trial versions available in ed-techs. Therefore, it is very important for tourism offices to closely follow the digital learning market due to their critical positions.

Let’s take a look at the future of the destination learning ecosystem, which is going to be based on present trends:

Curated Content

Destinations have their own cultural colors, and so do foreign travelers and their tour operators. Destination content will be the key factor to inspire B2B learners – so that they can inspire B2C learners to get the expected tourist profile and the highest ROI.

Social Connection

Tourism is a human-based social industry, so destination learning has to be social too. Tourism offices may need to focus more on returns in the destination marketing activities.

Focus on Practical Result

In the real world, what matters more than destination knowledge is the sales competency for the related destination. That’s why the major focus of NTOs, DMOs and CVBs will shift from general destination knowledge to practical and scaled competency. Make sure if your destination is on the sales list!

Personalization

Every person has their own learning path and capabilities. Personalization of content has slowly been a trend; however, it needs to be much more focused. Soon, we will discover more personalized B2B content with tailored destination concepts.

Self-Paced Learning

There are always highly motivated B2B buyers who wish to learn more and design new programs. The new Learning Management Systems can give this opportunity to NTOs, DMOs and CVBs to create new big potentials while allowing them to concentrate on their other works. Please check the Top 9 Benefits of Digital Transformation in Tourism Related Corporate Training article to learn more about it.

Conclusion

The destination e-learning ecosystem now exists. It is a must to get familiar with it and understand the existing ed-tech tools. I hope tourism offices can solve their heavy workload effectively with the right choices. It is important to thoroughly investigate which solution and which application is compatible with the tourism industry and B2B destination marketing.

The online learning tools will surely play a giant role in shaping the Destination Marketing Ecosystem for every sized region, city, and country.

A word of caution must be said here, some local economies are 85% or more dependent on tourism revenues. And each one’s ability and capacity to get the most out of the future depends on the choices made today.

1. Timing

Learning when to start promoting your destinations to the B2B market is going to be essential for success as we are still experiencing the backlash of the pandemic. Today’s decisions must contain long-term solutions.

2. Targeted efforts

The ability to focus your efforts on your target audience is going to be crucial if you want to see any conversions. Digital marketing, and social media are the kings, but what is the ROI to your B2B efforts?

3. Using platforms

Learning of using marketing platforms and virtual event strategies will help you to achieve better results by building rapport with your audience, but the selection of the right tool is critical in terms of spending your time, money, and effort.

4. Direct support

Engaging your audience with direct support to help them decide how to plan their vacations and destination is going to give you an edge over the competition. Are you able to reach the true buyers anytime this is required?

5. Return on investment

Your marketing efforts should always allow you to see the kind of ROI that makes the expenses worth your while. Breaking even is not good enough. Today, every single marketing activity should work for a real business development potential on the ground.

6. Follow up

The art of being able to follow up on any type of communication with your target audience is going to prove to be of paramount importance for your longevity. How to solve the follow-up capacity to see and track the results?

7. Unity inbound

Being able to unity inbound all product and service providers is going to be just as essential as any other aspect of the campaigns. What is your tool to unity local professionals?

“Where there is unity there is always victory”. Publilius Syrus

8. Content design

Outstanding educational content design is essential in order to ensure that conversions are high and that your target audience is being trained with accuracy and convenience. This is an important but undervalued point if the business targets B2B audiences.

9. Business development tracking

Being able to track real business development is going to be extremely important for any destination strategy in the tourism industry. This is going to help the destinations establish what needs to be done in order to correct any issues that are causing the business to stop moving forward. The critical question is; how to measure the travel expectations and develop them with the inbound partners?

Final thoughts

These 9 critical facts are all equally relevant and they should be taken with the same level of commitment and dedication. The good news is that digital learning technologies are growing fast. We all need to implement the right tools for the right jobs through our specific knowledge in the travel trade. Old-school days are over and adapting to the new world matters in our industry.

Turns out, in this age of digital everything, virtual events and webinars are more accessible than ever before. But if you want to get actual results, you just need to take the time to consolidate what was learned after the event.

I’ve been a part of the destination management field for thirty years. Now I put my effort into developing the travel trade through learning. Why? One thing is for sure: the future of the tourism industry is digital and learning is going to be a huge part of it.

The goal of destination marketing is to create a seamless experience for travellers. To me, it seems like the need for destination management has been replaced by the need for destination learning management. And I wonder if it is a transition period from DMO to DLMO?

Destination learning means more than just meeting people, planning the marketing and having things done as before. To strengthen this experience and make it meaningful, we found these five tips after having series of events in the last whole year.

5 Tips to Make Your Destination Training Session Stronger and More Meaningful!

1. Your final destination training session may seem like the end of a long day, but it’s actually the beginning. Surveys show that you might end your destination training sessions by reminding tour operators and travel agents to use the resources at their disposal (as well as the market intelligence you provide) to devise a plan of action. We suggest you ask the audiences; tour operators and travel agents, what they will do differently when back at work?
2. The more you rehearse, the better you remember.” Keep the momentum going! We noticed that following-up training is a great way to reinforce what was learned at the original workshop or webinar. There are many ways you can follow up – synchronous or asynchronous, meeting live or online, and in-person or through self-paced modules. It’ll help the audiences remember what they learned about your destination, your news and updates. In a recent study, it was found that spaced out training sessions are more effective than one long session. If you haven’t created self-paced learning modules on LVG yet, then schedule live meetings where everyone logs on together, with your stakeholders, and conduct a discussion.

3. You know the feeling when you’re trying to remember something really important, but you can’t recall it? Well, that’s what reinforcement emails are for. As a destination marketeer expert, you know what it takes to be successful without having a doubt. However, we wanted to share again how polls we ran with our membership taught us the importance of reinforcement emails. Email may be outdated, but it’s still one of the top three marketing tools. In order to keep the audiences’ memories fresh, send regular reinforcement emails. The email should complement the webinar and could include things like: Repeating key concepts or summaries. Suggestions for ways to use the information in their program, and itinerary. Motivational quotes or jokes – everyone needs a smile on their face at work. Sending these emails over a period of time spreads out the audiences’ interactions with your destination brand.
4. It might be time to rethink your approach to networking. In the age of information overload, it’s important to create a culture that values new attention. Creating a culture of inbound attention in B2B networking is crucial to a business’s success. New knowledge, if not supported by a travel agency, tour operator or a buyer company, will be useless information. The only valuable knowledge for traders is if it relates back to their business. We are delighted to share our experimental results with these suggestions for you: You might try these steps to make the transition easier: create a forum where suppliers and stakeholders can ask questions and audiences receive coaching from inbound experts; set up goals for training so you can track progress in quarterly or annual reviews.
5. When it comes to your ROI, the last and simplest way to hit the target is to take a coffee break with the LVG team to learn what we do and how LVG improves your benefits. How can we help you? We have a long list of benefits! The educational technology field is evolving very quickly, and surely more quickly than the tourism industry. There are many great solutions on the market today, and even more on the horizon. And the question is whether you know enough to make the right decision and not be left behind.

Tourism marketing and destination branding is the transfer of information to potential buyers. As an expert, we know that your main goal is to help B2B audiences who are already experts in the tourism industry glean new information. Business development and sales professionals want to understand how to apply your destination’s new and exciting details in their own programs and sales. Your hard task is to make it easier for them to transfer the right information for the right sales and business development—to understand how and when to apply their new knowledge and put it into action when the tourism movements start.

This article was written to show that in this day and age, online education in the tourism industry will prevail. We are here to share the benefits of an online learning destination with you, and what pros and cons you can expect to find when shopping for one. It’s a small price to pay for an enlightening conversation; a 30-mins catch-up for a coffee online.

Here is a nice article if you are interested in learning more about the general impact of the learning industry on our lives: https://elearningindustry.com/impact-of-the-elearning-industry-on-our-lives

WTTC CEO Julia Simpson, commented;

“If we cannot fill these vacancies, it could threaten the survival of Travel & Tourism businesses up and down the UK. Companies’ dependent on tourism have been hanging on for the upside, this is just another blow that many may not survive”.

The UK is not alone, with similar trends are being seen across other European countries. One inevitable consequence are equivalent rises in pay. Already by June 2021 City AM were reporting of wage rises in the sector of up to 14% simply to retain staff. The problem is that we are in competition with other sectors, who are also responding. Only in December, London department store Harrods averted a threatened strike by awarding its staff a 25% pay rise.

So how can your business respond?

To quote former Harvard University President Derek Bok, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” So in this piece, I concentrate on how leaders can find a return on investment from skills development. Yes, tourism businesses are cash strapped post the pandemic. Nevertheless upskilling drives positive outcomes in two key areas:

1. People engagement, both to retain & motivate existing staff, plus to attract fresh talent
2. If salaries are increasing, how can you achieve enhanced productivity to pay for them?

With every sector competing for limited talent, the travel & hospitality sector is being left behind. What is more this looks set to be a long term trend. Inequalities in income that have been growing since the 1980’s, may now go into reverse, as demonstrated by the UK government’s “levelling-up” agenda.

Furthermore, another shift is underway, where practical and caring skills, which have been undervalued for years, are now being re-calibrated positively against a surfeit of “knowledge based” qualifications. Embedding personal and professional development into a company’s DNA will be critical to addressing the challenges highlighted above.

And what a problem this is proving to be. A PWC report from January 2022 found that 80% of CEO’s saw successful upskilling as their greatest business challenge. So if a strong case exists for making an investment, how do you make sure it is worth the time and money? The UK Commission for Employment & Skills (UKCES) found that British employers invested a total of £42 billion in training, an equivalent of £1,500 per employee.

Unfortunately it also found that precious few organisations had successfully maximised the return on this investment. Business people will always want to generate the maximum possible benefit for a minimum cost.

So here are 7 tips to bear in mind in formulating a successful skills programme:

1. Set clear objectives: what does your business need in terms of knowledge, skills and behaviours? Give careful thought to current shortfalls and what “good outcomes may look like” in the future. Seek outside opinions to double check your assumptions. 2. Secure employee buy-in: there is nothing worse than your staff dragging their feet to a training session, wondering why they need to attend. Experts believe that in the economy of the future, retooling will be required every 6 months. Awaken their sense of responsibility that your investment will positively benefit their future careers. Moreover strive to maintain ongoing engagement. Building strong resilient careers, also builds a strong, healthy business.
2. Capture institutional expertise: we all know of the “grey hairs” in our business who have accumulated decades of knowledge… but this all remains in their head. Look for ways to leverage and broadcast this expertise.
3. Create the right environment: whether in person or on-line, make sure your people are able to focus on the learning and not be distracted by outside pressures of work or their daily lives.
4. Utilise best-in-class technology: High-value

sectors like telecoms & pharmaceuticals increasingly leverage “ed-tech”, where the gold standard is “LXP” systems (Learning experience platforms). These are engineered to optimise user engagement through course structure and techniques like gamification, They also gather invaluable trainee data for driving smart decision-making. Moreover,

1. costs are reducing all the time, putting them within the reach of cash-strapped tourism companies.
2. Take advantage of funding: In the UK the government will finance up to 90% of apprenticeship training costs https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeship-funding . Such courses have the real value of equal recognition (in UCAS points) to academic qualifications.
3. Measure and evaluate: A simple measure is to monitor that the learning has been applied in the workplace. This facilitates productivity improvements to be measured using your in-house KPI’s. Travel has grown accustomed to A/B testing for marketing and similar discipline can be applied to skills development. Once mastering the basics, these can be developed into more sophisticated financial models covering a range of costs and benefits. A good example is here https://academy.treasurers.org/resources/how-to-calculate-roi-on-team-training . However don’t forget to scope key elements such as savings in recruitment costs which will be the result of a strong retention policy.

To learn more, please join us for the latest webinar, “Skills Development, expense or revenue generator? Is educating your team a smart investment and if so how?” on Thursday 24th February at 10.00 hours GMT / 11.00 hours CET.

Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3416438765380/WN__tmZZqs6QZGISNct9pU1CA

The team at LVG Learning & Networking, bring together a panel of experts both from inside the travel sector and from the broader economy to discuss real-world solutions.

So if upskilling is an investment your business businesses can’t afford to do without, then we look forward to you company in helping build viable, skilled jobs that will underpin the long term health of our sector.

• Patrick Richards