Example: Service with vision

There are two approaches to service in tourism, where I would put the emphasis less on business models and more on the philosophy of experience.
One example could be, say, Cappadocia and a balloon flight.
From the experience of those who have been there, it is a carefully designed experience in which many people take part. From the drivers who pick you up at dawn, the guides who bring you into the story, the photographers who know exactly when to catch the shot, to the teams who take care of safety and balloon preparation, and the hosts who greet you with breakfast and a smile. Everyone has a role. Everyone earns. Everyone contributes.
In that chain, every person is a link of value.

And then you have those other examples, where one provider wants to do everything alone. Drive, greet, photograph, guide, offer lunch, sell souvenirs, and even do negative advertising against others. Everything under their logo, everything under their direction.
Those are diametrically opposite approaches. And as much as I respect resourcefulness, I respect trust more. I respect it more when someone says, let's all earn together.
Tourism is not a solo business.
When, even in one experience, however short, space is left for everyone who made it possible to earn, then we are talking about a sustainable offer. Then tourism is what hosts live, not only what guests see.
Also, when we offer a service in tourism, it must come with a vision of the tourist's final feeling. Because tourism is a process, continuity, and trust.


And why service with vision?
Because tourism is not only about what we offer, but about how we do it. Ideas can be small or large in size, but tourists value and count most on those that are large in the feeling they bring.
Maybe the second example from the beginning of the text reminds you more of the "rules of work" here, but not everything is like that. There are ideas that simply deserve praise because they make a stay more practical.
One of them is a creative offer that appeared on Tara rafting: "photos that are ready and waiting for you before you have even collected yourself after the impressions".
No rush. No complications and no question of "is there one where I look good?"
Everything is already ready.

It is enough to know when you will go down the river, which camp you are starting from, and with which skipper, and your most exciting moments will be waiting for you, because someone else captured what you will only later try to tell in words. This is the kind of detail from the beginning of the text that makes the difference. I love them.
And that is why, as far as I am concerned, bravo for the idea of "rafting photos". Not because of marketing, but because of the feeling that you have truly understood the people who come.
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