Innovation and Tourism Idea to Market

The world has many fine tourism companies. Some of these have innovative solutions to big and small problems. Innovation usually takes place in small steps, and most often in existing companies. Sometimes someone comes up with a revolutionary idea that could disrupt the entire industry fundamentally, scale and become really big. I’m particularly interested in those.

I don’t think everyone should grow big. Only a few companies have such ambitions, and I believe we should start measuring success in other ways than infinite growth and consumption. For the sake of the planet. I dream of a new generation of entrepreneurs pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo and changing tourism. Forever.

Most of the businesses that actually have grown big and changed entire industries have done so because they focused on a specific problem for a specific group of people. You don’t have to look for UN problems to save the world. If you solve a problem you’re experiencing, you have higher chances of success. And of changing the world. In small steps.

You don’t have to create new technology to be innovative. Innovation can be in product, service, business models, marketing, network, structure or other levels. This book is mostly for the ones who want to solve a problem with the use of technology and bring the solution to market. A kind of step-by-step handbook with tips and theory. But I believe that the book is also suitable for existing companies and destinations that will remain relevant through incremental innovation and small adjustments. That’s the most common way.

It is a bit scary to share this book. More scary than starting a business. It feels like I’m putting my head, or ideas on the chopping block. But, since I want honest feedback on the book and content, I need to step out of my comfort zone. Just like in every entrepreneurial journey.

While I am nervous about putting my book in front of people, I’m not concerned about the quality of the material. To be honest I feel I’ve earned this book. I have worked hard for 20 years to deserve it. I am obsessed with entrepreneurship and sustainability and I have studied at universities, read books and articles and listened to everything I could find. I’ve taken the ideas I liked best and tested them on our own businesses and I have tested them on other people’s businesses. Some ideas we managed to work for us, others failed.