Passport Creative: Storytelling for your international business
This is: Passport Creative a marketing agency that focuses on copywriting and brand-building for small businesses aiming for international attention, allowing them to connect with customers and clients from all over the globe by telling the story no one else can tell: yours.
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Congratulations to @humphrey.ndungu who has been working diligently (and safely!) throughout the past few months, leading guided tours at Fort Jesus in Mombasa, Kenya while also working to increase his presence online.
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On New Year's Eve, he secured his first online booking for a group of 6, and it went off beautifully.
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2020 was difficult on a lot of levels, but even more so for those local tour guides whose livelihood depends on travel and tourism.
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It's a small step, but I hope a significant one. The downtime, if we can call it that, has been a chance for us to put in place the systems we'd been wanting to work on, but that had been difficult to manage while also working, raising families, and everything else that fills up our days.
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So why is one day, one booking, one group of tourists so special?
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Because it shows that the systems work when we give them the time to work. Humphrey has been working as hard as he always has, but this is going to bring him another avenue to meet people from around the world and share with them the parts of his home he cares so much about.
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So as you break ground on planning your 2021, think about what systems you could put in place, what automated emails you could set up, what articles you could write, that'll put you in an even stronger position once travel picks back up.
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Until then, stay safe, celebrate the small victories, and we'll see you soon.
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#kenya #mombasa #fortjesus #travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #france #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing
Happy New Year! We are developing some tools we can't wait to share with you to help you get your 2021 started strong. Take some time for yourselves, breathe deep, and we'll jump into this potential-filled year together next week!
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #france #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing
A picture's worth a thousand words (but don't worry, even though I'm sharing two I didn't write that many).
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Any chance you have to capture a traveler's attention should be a chance you value.
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I had the chance to collaborate with @bikudo_travel recently (thank you for letting me borrow the photos!) and this is something we spent a good deal of time on.
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Whether you're leading someone through the stalls of a market... or just showing them around the tours on your website... time and attention deserve to be respected.
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So with an eye toward online spaces, how can you keep piquing their curiosity, while still accomplishing your goals?
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With Vietnam, you could explore phenomenal food that goes beyond pho.
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For Myanmar, you could tempt travelers who like to go beyond trails.
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In Laos, offer visitors a chance to feel a connection that goes beyond WiFi.
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For a country with a star attraction like Nepal's, create intrigue by talking about crocodiles and kayaking in the shadow of Mt. Everest.
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It helps to have a group like @bikudo_travel that can make good on all these offers, being helpful stewards connecting passionate travelers with awesome countries.
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But it's something you can do, too.
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Find the pictures and pick the words that make what you have come to life.
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You know it's special. And it's important that other people know it, too.
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#myanmar #travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #france #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing
This country's official tourism page breaks down what makes them special with just seven words: Wild. Thrills. Bliss. Essence. Festive. Scenic. Heritage. Pristine.
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Got any ideas?
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(Did you cheat and check who I tagged?)
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Does a country stand out? Or... more than one?
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When you think about what you're going to write about yourself, and what you do... can you break it down into one-word bites?
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Can you be what comes to mind when people think of "adventure"? Or "exotic"? Or "undiscovered"?
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What I love about this exercise is the emphasis on how much words matter.
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Words matter, and so does each individual word.
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Choose yours carefully, and you'll see their potential.
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(Just like Sri Lanka did.)
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #cathedral #montsaintmichel #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #france #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing
There is a castle on a cloud...
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Okay, if that line wasn't enough to get the song stuck in your head, I won't start singing Les Mis for everyone.
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We ended up at two abbeys this weekend, one a ruin, the other, a thriving city.
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One was off the beaten path, the Abbaye de Jumièges, an epic monastery that looks like an abandoned Hollywood set.
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The other, Mont Saint-Michel, is one of the more well-known World Heritage Sites... in the world.
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(Sorry, that's redundant, I know.)
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And though we weren't there during peak tourist season (when will there be peak tourist season again, do you think?)...
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There were still a lot of people.
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Heck, there's even a Michelin-recognized restaurant that sells 30€ omelets.
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And at the Abbaye de Jumièges, we ate our own snacks.
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Yet, for how iconic Mont Saint-Michel is (and it photographs real nice, as you can see), I'm torn between the weekend's towering, landscape-dominating abbeys.
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I recognize one doesn't just *discover* something like this, but discover is the best way to describe coming upon the first abbey. It was just waiting, unassuming, the shell of its former self, and yet, still stunning.
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I say this to suggest the sense of discovery will always be powerful for tourists, both local and international.
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Just checking off the monuments on the To Do list won't be enough for everyone.
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So what can you find on the way to the Main Event, off that side street, through a family friend, or otherwise... that could bring some delight, something unexpected, some story to share?
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Because a surprise, no matter how big or how small, can leave a lasting impression.
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I know I'm still thinking about the abbey we found on the way to The Abbey we were planning to see.
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(And not just because I got to drive on a ferry afterward.)
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #cathedral #montsaintmichel #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #france #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
Too often as travelers we think of travel as off/on.
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Yes/no.
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Borders opened/closed.
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But the question of tourism isn't binary. It's not even a multiple-choice question. It's a free-response, choose-your-own-adventure essay that you're going to need to ask your teacher for that extra sheet of paper to give you the space you'll need to get your whole answer down.
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As Costa Rica plans their open, their tourism minister made a point we would all do well to remember as we are planning our own businesses, tours, trips, and shops.
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It's not just a matter of a country being closed to tourism or open to tourism.
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From planes to patacones, It's a vital part of the whole economy.
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
I'm never not stunned by the inside of a cathedral.
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Sure, the stained glass is stunning.
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The organs are enchanting.
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But mostly the little kid inside me just points up at the ceiling, dumbfounded, and gapes.
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How did they do that?
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And I know it's a YouTube search away to find an explainer video. Answers await, and with my 40 gigs of available French internet, I have fewer excuses than I did while I was rationing my megabytes last summer.
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Still, I stare upward. I ogle. And I leave my phone alone.
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(Well, not that alone. I had to take the pictures you're looking at it.)
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Sometimes it's nice to have mysteries.
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Sometimes it's nice to be in awe.
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Sometimes it's nice to let yourself be humbled by the achievements of others.
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Wow. Whoa. Huh.
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(But seriously! How do they do it!?)
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
If you want to see the endangered mountain gorillas of East Africa, it’ll cost you. (Not counting the whole getting-to-East-Africa part, naturally.)
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It’ll cost you $700 per person (assuming you’re a foreign visitor and not a local) for a one-hour visit with these rare mammals.
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Unless it costs you $400.
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Or $1500.
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Yes, that’s for the same gorillas.
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What’s different is the country, as three neighboring countries charge different prices for the same access.
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In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a permit currently costs $400.
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In Rwanda, a permit to see the gorillas cost $1,500 a person.
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And in Uganda? $700.
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From this, Rwanda’s positioning itself as the luxury option as well as, according to the Rwanda Development Board the “gives the most back to the community” option.
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And Uganda takes the middle ground, appealing to budget and luxury travelers alike by convincing them to come through Uganda.
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The DRC’s dealt with kidnappings and violent crimes, even having to close their national park because of it. Demand is lower, so they have to adjust their prices to sell the supply they have.
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Fair or not, their image was decided for them. Now to change it, they have to lower their prices to be compelling.
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Rwanda took a leap, doubling their prices from $750 to $1500. Permit sales dropped. But they did it on their terms, making a clear appeal to luxury travelers who wouldn’t be fazed by the extra cost.
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They decided on the image, and now their gorilla permits are only open to the tourists who can afford it.
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As it is with luxury goods and so many other products, the price is a part of the story.
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Using your price to tell a story is a great technique.
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The only trick to it is whether you’re telling your story... or whether your story’s being told for you.
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
Who knew the Louvre had a little brother? (Besides everyone in France.)
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In Lens, which is about two hours from Paris, 30 minutes from Lille, and 1.5 hours from Brussels, there is a museum called Louvre-Lens.
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Yep, that Louvre.
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In 2003, it was announced that there would be a regional branch of the Louvre. Several cities put together proposals, and Lens, a former mining town, ended up winning.
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The Louvre-Lens was built on a former mine yard. It opened in 2012.
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And besides the name and the Pritzer Architecture Prize award-winning museum, there’s something the museum does that’s a little out of the ordinary.
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They put 5,000 years of history - 200 masterpieces and works - on display in the same room.
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The Gallery of Time (Galerie du Temps) is their wildcard, their shot at something different.
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Whereas museums might trend toward familiar organizational patterns (art by the same artist goes here, art from this period goes there, the gift shop where everyone wants to go is at the end), they tried something different.
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And different means taking a risk.
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The art history professor who told me about the Louvre’s little brother wasn’t having it.
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He’s quoted saying lots of things (none of them good) about the museum in a French paper.
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But being able to see artifacts from the 4th millennium BC through the mid-19th century, all in one go, is an experience that’s unlike any other.
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Maybe it’s not for everyone.
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But if I know anything about little brothers, sometimes they have to act out to get a little attention.
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(Even more so when their big brother gets 10 million visitors a year.)
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
This summer showed us a lot about who we are.
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This quote by Naledi Khabo, the Chief Executive of Africa Tourism Association (@worldtoafrica), comes from an NYTimes article about African travel companies appealing to local residents only after their normal source of tourists disappeared reveals a sore spot in the tourism community.
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Part of it is a conversation about money, or at least, perceived money.
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Heck, a huge part of it is.
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But more relevant to all of us are the blind spots we have about our own organizations and companies, about our own customers and audience.
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Because more than the price issue is the sense (both in the article, and overall) that the relationship between the company and the community was not tended to. So when the company turned to the community for a favor, for support, for a lifeline... the community wondered what had taken so long.
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One of the takeaways from working at a boutique hotel in Kigali for me was that there was always a way to engage. Even if some of the rooms might have been out of the local budget, there were still Sunday brunches, events, and trips around the city for everyone.
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They found a way to meet their community in the middle.
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In looking at our own approaches, maybe we don't need to be so black and white, so "high dollar or nothing at all." Though we got told in business to focus on the money-making opportunities, what this year should remind us is that putting all our eggs in one basket can be tricky.
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This summer showed us a lot about ourselves, but it's also given us the time to correct course and improve.
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What'll you do with the runway?
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man."
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How many times I walked this beach on Lamu Island off the coast of Kenya. I walked it each morning. I jogged it each night. I was recovering from a tendon injury, so the soft sands and lack of a finish line kept me plodding along, day after day, night after night.
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And yet, despite the sameness of the effort, the attempts were as different as each of the sunsets.
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Sometimes, work can feel repetitive. Tourists come in and tourists head out. We work with clients and then clients say their goodbyes. We go out for pizza and order the same pizza that we ordered before.
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But it could just as easily be said that we're the same, unchanging in the face of all those tourists from different places, clients from different companies, pizzas from different chefs.
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So the question for you is how are you going to change your approach? The river's not the same, the man's not the same.
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But it's up to you to recognize those changes and embrace the differences. Don't let them just them flow past you.
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
A daily email that'll take just as long to read as this post. Chock full of travel tidbits, tourism trends, and marketing tips to help you stay abreast of a changing world, and take advantage to help you be your very best.
Coming tomorrow. Drop me a message if you'd like to be a part of the very first group.
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
There’s nothing I like more than a plan. Coffee tomorrow? I’ve got a plan for that. Learning Italian? We’ve got a plan for that. Move to Paris? That plan’s underway. So you know I was excited when I saw Japan was putting in place a plan to open up their borders.
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Then I saw the date.
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April… 2021? Six more months? While it’s certainly in advance of the Olympics by… a month or two, it also feels like an illustration of how bad the pandemic is that a country hosting arguably the biggest international event doesn’t feel comfortable letting in international people for another half a year.
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This is less, of course, about being able to hop, skip, and jump over to Tokyo and get back to the cherry blossoms. (Though who wouldn’t love that?)
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It’s about the salt on the wound. It’s about feeling like you’ve reached the end of the marathon, and then they double the length of the course.
But ultimately, we don’t gain much from worrying about things we can’t control.
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So, what can you control?
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If you’re running tours in Japan, you’d have a solid six-month runway to build excitement for the opening, to reach out to old clients, and to attract new ones.
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For the rest of us… what’s to stop us from revising our own six-month plans? Not everyone is in Japan’s position. But how would you adjust your plans if, like the host of the Olympics, if you thought the borders could be open again in April?
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At the very least, let’s get our back-of-the-napkin plans in place. Sketch out each month of the next six with a big win for each one. Heck, you can probably even put it over a cup of coffee.
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Sounds like a plan.
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#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
“It is a truism, repeatedly ignored by powerful nations globally and ruling classes in dominant countries, that our central global challenges cannot be solved in isolation of each other or only on the terms of the powerful.” - H.E. Hon. Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent & The Grenadines.
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In a statement last week, Dr. Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent & The Grenadines addressed the United Nations.
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Saint Vincent, for the record, has a population of slightly more than 100,000. It ranks 197th in the world right now.
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The speech, though, was something else, impassioned and wide-ranging, calling out the threats of globalization, the inequalities for country’s like his left after European colonialism, and the economic implications of COVID-19.
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(Did I mention it’s a tiny country?)
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He goes on to mention those populations across the globe that his nation stands in support with, including Syria and Yemen, as well as lobbying for the inclusion of the governments of Palestine and Taiwan more fully into the UN.
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(But if we do the math… New York City alone is 80x as big as his whole nation.)
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And yet. He makes it his business to speak up for himself on the global stage, to make sure his country is heard, and to take advantage of the opportunity. To speak out for other countries. To stand up for people in their situations.
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So where does that leave us?
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Say you’re starting out, you rank 197th on the list of Top Attractions in your city (one of my clients started out at 196th).
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Are you not going to speak up about something you see happening in your city? Or things that could be better? Or if you see the chef at another hotel’s restaurant doing something great, isn’t that worth a shout out?
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What's true is that tourism and travel don’t happen in a vacuum. Isolation won’t get us anywhere. We need other people, and we're better with other people.
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By working together we can rise up. By seeing who’s around us, and supporting them, by standing up for them and lobbying for them, by celebrating that great chef of theirs… we all win.
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(Even those in 197th place.)
#travel #trip #tourist #traveler #passportcreativechallenge
It’s hard to believe there’s a monster lying asleep in these Venezuelan beaches, ferocious and hungry, and ready to roar. You can’t see it. What monster, you ask.
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It’s easier to believe what we can see. That the world’s hurt right now. There’s no end in sight. Cases are rising again… and opportunities are not.
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We see what’s not working. Whether it’s the way the pandemic is affecting everyone right now or whether it’s problems that existed before that have been exaggerated. The short-term is staring us all in the face, demanding an answer.
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Take Venezuela, for example, shown here. As beautiful as it’s ever been, but a country whose population is besieged on all sides by circumstances beyond their control. Still, though, they persist.
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As Esteban Torbar of @TurismoMaso told Travel Weekly about his own organization’s struggles during the pandemic, "the focus is to keep [the business] alive and also well-positioned to embrace change once it occurs," he said, adding that “We are heading toward one of the most amazing reconstruction processes in history," he said, "and I'm confident tourism will be a huge driver in it. Infrastructure -- airports, marinas, ports -- will be one of the first things redeveloped.”
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He goes on to call Venezuela “A huge, dormant tourism monster. Amazing islands and beaches, friendly people. It will wake up, not by design but by default."
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So, there is hope. And now it's about preparation. Some airports are opening up. Some borders are lessening. And that stirring you've felt? It may just be your country's own tourism monster, stirring in its sleep.
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So what are you doing to be ready for when she wakes up?
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #passportcreativechallenge #photography
(Or £100,000.) Who doesn't want $130,000? I wouldn't say no. Would you? Okay, so maybe it's not that simple. Though researchers did find that adding high-quality photos and more descriptions about local history and attractions to Wikipedia posts could boost the number of nights by 9 (nine!) percent...
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Some of those researchers got caught and blocked by editors who thought their actions crossed the line into "commercial editing." Oops. There goes the experiment.
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So what do we do? $130,000 isn't nothing. But it's also no guarantee. We can't just spam Wikipedia with all the fun facts we've ever known and sit back and wait for the money to roll in. Because the issue is when we get greedy, hoping to plug just our own businesses without thinking of the bigger picture that we lose sight of our goals.
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So instead of fighting for a bigger slice of a smaller pie, why not help bake a bigger pie? After all, the more people that come to visit you, and the longer they stay, the more opportunities you'll have.
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Do you know a piece of forgotten history about your village? The connection your town has to what makes your country famous? Or do you have a gorgeous photo, and you know that your town's Wiki page is barren? By investing a little of your time now, not only will you benefit later, but so will the place where you work and so will the people where you live.
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So what are you going to share?
#travel #instatravel #travelgram #trip #tourist #traveling #travelling #vacation #photooftheday #holiday #travelingram #instagood #igtravel #instatraveling #instago #instapassport #visiting #mytravelgram #fun #wanderlust #traveler #travelphotography #travelblog #travelblogger #nature #beautiful #traveltheworld #amazing #love #photography
Hi, I’m Alex. I just left behind 10 years in television, and a life in California, to come to France in pursuit of something that’s been calling me for years. So now I’m studying, I’m collaborating, and I’m working on becoming the best writer I can be to help my partners and projects reach the audience they need to reach.
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And this is Passport Creative, my copywriting agency. As I have for several years now, I want to continue helping tour guides, travel companies and brands reach international audiences. Sure, it’s the middle of a global pandemic, but we’re not letting that stop us, are we?
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Over the coming weeks and months, I’ll be sharing what I’m learning and working on here, as well as who I’m working with and what we’re doing together. Want a helping hand with your project? Need help shaping that story? Let’s talk. Until then, welcome.
Stories from around the world delivered straight to you.
Passport Creative is a marketing agency that focuses on copywriting and brand-building for small businesses aiming for international attention, allowing them to connect with customers and clients from all over the globe by telling the story no one else can tell: yours.
