PROFESSIONAL TOURISM

As the summer solstice approaches, Maine’s tourism-reliant businesses look forward to their most lucrative three months. The summer’s revenues can mean the difference between a year in the black or a year in the red, yet many of the contributing factors – such as gas prices and weather – are beyond the control of owners. That’s why tourism businesses need to pay close attention to what they can do to maximize their take.

CenTRO, the Center for Tourism Research and Outreach, based at the University of Maine, is working to “professionalize” the tourism industry. Harold Daniel, CenTRO’s director, says that while the mom-and-pop-run motels, campgrounds and restaurants can continue to have a niche in the industry, a better future for tourism businesses awaits those who can take service to another level.

The “product” tourism offers, he explains, is really an experience. Visitors come with certain expectations; maybe it’s to step back to a simpler time, to reconnect with nature, or to enjoy an active, outdoorsy adventure. Carefully listening to customers to understand what they want and then being able to steer them to it, is critical.

“That takes a quantum leap in skills with what we have now in this state,” Mr. Daniel says frankly. Managers need to train their staff to interact with customers so the experience is peak. Some Asian countries actually train cabdrivers to be able to converse with visitors and suggest activities and destinations; that sort of tailored response boosts tourism revenue for an entire country, he says.

As a state, Maine should collectively work to provide our summer guests with the same sort of hospitality, whether one’s paycheck comes directly from tourism or not. It is, after all, the state’s largest industry.

CenTRO provides some consulting services to tourism businesses and offers workshops to share the latest research-based approaches. At UM’s Hutchinson Center in Belfast a tourism management certificate is granted with courses such as “Introduction to Marketing,” “Tourism Economics” and “Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management” offered. These efforts will begin changing the tourism business model.

One nugget of advice Mr. Daniel offers is for tourism businesses to consider the theatrical element of what they do and provide customers with a show of sorts; a Maine B&B should work to maintain the image visitors seek and not pull back the curtain to reveal the behind-the-scenes workings, he says.

This might seem too esoteric for a mom-and-pop motel in rural Maine, where Mom is washing towels and sheets, Pop is mowing the lawn and fixing a broken screen, and both are scrambling to answer the phone to take reservations.

That’s where government could come in, Mr. Daniel says. It could offer training, promotional assistance and branding. Canada does this very well, inspecting restaurants and lodging businesses that want to use the “Canada Select” rating system.

Because Maine’s tourism industry is actually thousands of small businesses, the more help they get, the better the outcome for Maine’s economy.