DAY 1 #DCHH18
DestinationCamp: The Human Element
The human element remains the most crucial factor in the human-machine system – this was the conclusion of the opening evening at the 8th DestinationCamp.
The opening of DestinationCamp had never been as overwhelming as it was this Friday. At least for me. Never in my life have so many people sung a birthday song to me simultaneously, certainly not 250 participants of DestinationCamp. Tourism professionals, experts, and representatives from politics and administration gathered on May 25 for the opening of the creative and future workshop in tourism. And I immediately received 3, no 4 AGMs as gifts - Analog Happiness Makers. Which brings us to the theme of this 8th DestinationCamp: The Human Element.
Already on the opening evening, it became clear what was to be expected until Sunday: A wide range of discussions, strategic approaches, concrete tips for action, and perhaps even practical guidelines for tourism policy.
"Ecce Homo – behold the man". This was the title Martin Lennartz chose for his keynote. He was Head of Strategic Corporate Development at Bertelsmann, Publishing Director of ZEIT, Managing Editor of Badische Zeitung, Board Member of a service agency, and has seen himself - as a freelancer for about 15 years - as a Constructive Provocateur.
His quoted magazine and newspaper headlines, all warning of the danger to people and jobs from Artificial Intelligence, automation, and robots, were not - as assumed - from last month, but from the September issues of 1966 and 1980:
As long as there have been humans, there have been fears of technology! However, technology is not the problem, but rather our mechanistic view and engineering approach.
Planning and analysis are excellent in environments characterized by stability, knowledge, and experienced process technology. Where, however, surprises are the norm - in today's dynamic and complex situations - the environment is not predictable. We cannot fully grasp the many and partly unknown influencing factors.
Under conditions of complexity, "Capable Experimentation" is the strategy with the highest probability of success. The understanding of thinking and working that has become self-evident since industrialization must be replaced by an experimental mindset.
Without regional leagues - as the self-confessed football fan put it - there would be no Bundesliga. The keynote speaker underscored his appeal to be open to new things with a quote from Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed or distorted. Then it is opposed. And finally, it is accepted as self-evident."
The subsequent panel discussion, moderated by Bernhard Lingg, took up the demand for a reorientation of work understanding and processes. "We have grown with and thanks to digitalization, profited from it, and gained market shares from analog players," explained André Kiwitz, CEO of Ventura Travel. However, he also said, "I don't know if there will still be tour operators in 10 or 20 years."
Kiwitz drew a conclusion from this and offers motivated entrepreneurs a framework for capable experimentation around his original South America niche tour operator, Viventura. Ventura TRAVEL centrally provides core services for IT, marketing, finance & legal to all tour operator brands united under its umbrella. This allows highly specialized niche tour operators to assert themselves even against large corporate tour operators.
Dirk Bremer, President of the Travel Industry Club, conceded that large tour operators are more endangered by the rapid transformation requirements of digitalization than specialized niche tour operators. On the one hand, decision-making processes in corporations inevitably take longer; on the other hand, they are not so close to the customer that they would not be replaceable for them by AI and bot communication. Digitalization is fundamentally changing the travel industry.
"New players, new business models, Big Data: it's going to be very exciting," Bremer stated. "Already today, a person's passion, the enthusiasm for what they do, represents the decisive difference from Artificial Intelligence. In five years, this will be even clearer: standard tasks will be replaced by AI. Only individualized knowledge makes humans more valuable."
Gabriele Maessen, Area General Manager of the Steigenberger Hotel Group, also emphasized the central role of people in digitalization: "The more that is digitized, the more we will depend on the quality of our employees' work." The passionate hostess wants to create "unforgettable moments for guests and thus an emotional connection" with her team as passionate hosts.
Digitalization could even help find new employees because many (unpopular) tasks could be automated. Employees would need to be trained for new requirements and be given responsibility. Maessen: "Despite all the automation – we need employees who can think and manage the whole picture and inspire guests."
Then the 6 moderator pairs each had 6 minutes to present their topics for the 3 sessions on Saturday, and participants distributed hearts for their favorite topics or presentations or moderator pairs.
Afterward, the opening party began in the Stock Exchange Hall: with wine from Rhineland-Palatinate, beer from Blockbräu, Solaris tea, and Nemo's coffee - excellently framed by Vargos' Emotional Sound Design. With a surprising vocal performance from the balcony, Carola Thierheimer and Peti van der Velde delighted the guests with their musical highlights.
But what would the party have been without the first-class dinner buffets from Blauer Hummer: Veal shank with Papas Arrugadas and Vierländer tomato salad, oven-baked salmon with rösti crust and sea bass on marinated lentil salad, Green curry with fried shiitake mushrooms, Salmon bowl with soba noodles, sweet potato bowl with hummus, spinach-lattuga salad bowl with honey carrots and pomegranate seeds, parsley couscous with Shirazi salad, and so on and so forth. Is Saturday's surprise evening already hinted at?
First, the video summary of Day 1! The 2018 video documentation for the first day is presented by infomax websolutions, Traum-Ferienwohnungen, and sleeperoo: