What makes a great destination?

So, the main news of the week from a tourism perspective was the fact that Yorkshire, the county I have called home for the last 13 years, was honoured with the award of European Destination of the Year at the World Travel Awards in Antalya, Turkey. This is obviously great news for the region (we can't really call it a county as it is a composite of counties and unitary authorities - gone are the days of the old Ridings!) and apart from anything else is a reflection on the great work that a wide range of public sector bodies, trade organisations, tourism businesses and host communities have done in recent years.

I moved to North Yorkshire in 2000, tired of commuting between my home in the market town of Haddington in East Lothian and the business I had taken over in Malton, another market town nestling on the edge of the Howardian Hills. At the time I was reluctant to move, having enjoyed more than 10 years of life in the East of Scotland with its magnificant beaches, quiet moorlands, small historic burghs and of course cosmopolitan Edinburgh. 

I wasn't a stranger to Yorkshire, having been brought up just to the north in County Durham - day trips to places like York or the Northern Dales were always fun; visits to relatives in Leeds a compulsory part of the journey to or from my grandparents' house in the Potteries.  But when I moved south that July morning in 2000, I don't think I really appreciated quite what an amazing place I was coming to.  And the attributes that make it such a great place to live are also those that make it such a great tourist destination. 

In my job at Leeds Met University, where I have taught on the MSc in Responsible Tourism Management for more than 5 years, we spend quite a lot of time helping our students develop their thinking on this topic - how to create destinations that are attractive places for people to live in; to make sure that the host communities are able to benefit from tourism in ways that they want, and to make sure that the competitive advantage of these destinations is such that the destination is able to attract tourists who really appreciate what is on offer.

So what do I think is so special about Yorkshire?

• the sheer variety of landscapes - from the gentle curves of the Wolds, via the sheer cliffs at Flamborough and the flatness of Spurn, to the wild heather moorlands of the North Pennines
• our archaeological and built heritage - every period of our history is well represented in the portfolio of properties protected and managed for access by English Heritage, the National Trust and a whole host of volunteer and charitable groups. In particular, everyone should know our 2 World Heritage Sites - Rievaulx Abbey and Saltaire
• our wildlife - Yorkshire is at the forefront in developing wildlife tourism in England through the Yorkshire Nature Triangle project, for instance
• our arts - performing, fine, public
• the food - we have seen massive developments in local sourcing of food in recent years, particularly seafoods and game
• the opportunities for outdoor recreation - some years ago I was privileged to lead the team that prepared an adventure tourism strategy for North Yorkshire, looking for opportunities to invest in a range of activities including mountain biking, surfing, caving, rock climbing and airsports
• the people - quirky, funny, proud and welcoming
• our events - from Leeds Fest to the current Bird Migration Festival at Spurn Point, from the Leeds West African Carnival to the Bradford Mela and of course, next year's Grand Depart 2014

Without this rich variety within a destination, it is much harder to develop initiatives that can succeed in an increasingly noisy and fragmented tourism marketplace. So raw materials are essential, but they only become part of 'tourism' when they are packaged and sold. So we must credit the work of Welcome to Yorkshire and its partners (as well as its predecessors the Yorkshire Tourist Board and Yorkshire Forward) in galvanising the sector and raising our profile to the extent that it is almost a surprise when we don't win an award from an international tourism body.

So my final comments, for those of you who are reading this and who haven't every visited Yorkshire.  If you want to experience a sample of what we've got, get in touch when you're here and I promise I'll take you for a pint of beer or a cup of tea. And if you want to know how we did it, come and study tourism at Leeds Met University !

World Travel Market - seminar on visitor payback

World Travel Market is one of those events that I look forward to with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. The former feeling because I am never sure whether or not my feet will stand the pace of wandering around the Excel Centre for 2 days, and whether my memory is still good enough to allow me to put a name to every familiar face I see there. Excitement because it is one of the foremost opportunities every year for my colleagues and I at Leeds Met and at ICRT to spread the word about Responsible Tourism.

This year’s RT awards were as powerful as ever in terms of raising awareness of the great stuff that is being done around the world to help communities benefit more from tourism, and to help tourism businesses work more smartly in terms of delivering the highest standards of customer experience without trivialising the cultures their guests are visiting, or damaging irrecoverably the landscapes they are passing through. So all thanks to Professor Harold Goodwin, Justin Francis and the WTMRTD team for their hard work promoting, judging and presenting the awards.

But for me, the real work gets done in the breakout sessions that we offer, exploring different themes associated with Responsible Tourism. This is the fourth year that I have had the privilege of chairing one of the sessions. Last year we looked at managing visitors in World Heritage Sites, and this year we explored the concept of visitor payback initiatives – how to move beyond levying an admission charge but instead raising funds from tourists and tourism businesses and investing these resources in initiatives that really benefit the host destination and the resident community.

My three speakers were excellent and sadly, we ran out of time for a longer debate on some of the challenging issues they raised. But I know I’ll be thinking about what they all said and introducing key points into forthcoming lectures so that my students – undergraduate and postgrad – begin to appreciate what we as an industry can do to progress still further the spirit and the aims of the Cape Town Declaration.

Kath Bateman from Caledonia – a specialist language and dance tour operator based in Edinburgh and operating mainly in Cuba – spoke passionately about all the little things she does in terms of putting together packages that are true partnerships with the host community.  Employing, for instance, one dance tutor for every holidaymaker rather than one for the whole group. Limiting group sizes to 15 so that the impact on the host community is not overwhelming and so that the internal group dynamics don’t fragment too much. Utilising homestays rather than government-run hotels, so that the additional income goes straight into the pockets of the community. All small steps but when taken together, having a real benefit in the destination.

Hetty Byrne from the Forest of Bowland AONB spoke about a range of initiatives they are engaged in to promote a more sustainable and responsible approach to tourism in this hidden corner of Lancashire. Partnership again was a word that came up, both in terms of publc:private sector relationships but also between local tourism SMEs. She talked about two businesses who promoted an attractive walking route between the two locations, so that guests staying in one place could spend a day rambling through the AONB before ending up in a guest house offering a similar standard of experience. It might not deliver a major increase in business to either partner, but even if it stimulates a handful of extra bednights each season, that is income that otherwise would not have been earned. Incrementalism was another theme of Hetty’s talk – she mentioned a local inn that asked for a voluntary 20p donation on every bill, with the money to go towards improving access to the countryside for people with mobility problems. Some eighteen months later, thousands of pounds had been raised to purchase an electric buggy suitable for people with impaired mobility and to treat some of the routes around the inn so that they were fully accessible. Twenty pence on a bill of £20 or £30 is marginal to the customer, but added up those individual 20 pences have made a major difference in the destination.

The final speaker, Ruth Kirk from Nurture Lakeland, picked up on the theme of visitor giving and talked about some of the strategies for extracting funds from tourists. Voluntary donations are an obvious one, but she also mentioned how other businesses are also acting as conduits for funds that are collected and used to provide match-funding for major conservation projects such as footpath repair initiatives. One of the cruise operators running ferries on Ullswater asks for a small donation as part of the ticket income and some accommodation providers do the same. In the 18 years that the Lake District has had some form of visitor payback initiative, more than £2 million has been raised to invest in conservation projects.

In the short but spirited Q&A session at the end, perhaps the most challenging question was one that forced to address once again an issue we hadn’t really answered during the presentations. The title of the session had asked “Do tourists pay enough for accessing our heritage”? An audience member from Australia posed the simple question “Do they”. We had talked about strategies used by the public, private and voluntary sector to try to increase tourist contributions, but was it ‘enough’. The most straightforward and honest response came from Kath who said that tourists can never pay ‘enough’, because there is always something that needs to be done. Whether in Cuba, where she operates and where living standards remain lower than one would like, or in the North West of England where there is a legacy of erosion on the hillsides to treat as well as a major programme of investment needed to avoid future damage.

So rather than asking are tourists paying enough, perhaps we should be asking, “are enough tourists paying?”  In other words, should we be rolling out these initiatives that we know work for some people and extending their reach so that everyone is involved. Rather than a voluntary donation on top of your room charge, that could mean a bed tax. Rather than an optional top-up on your bar or restaurant bill, that could involve a local sales tax with revenues ring-fenced for re-investment in projects that benefit the host community.  But this would almost certainly require legislation at a time when government is seeking to remove as much red tape as possible because it is seen to stifle growth. So whilst some of us understand the  importance of understanding and responding to the polluter pays principle, both from an industry and consumer side, I’m not sure that the rest of the world is ready to play ball. Yet.

And in terms of my memory. Apologies to Rosie, for forgetting where I know you from (now I remember – a night out on the Senegambia strip and some very good whisky and cigars).

ICRT 'Evening With'

For several years it has been a tradition for ICRT staff, students and alumni to meet on the second Wednesday of the month to catch up with one another, share ideas and generally try to find ways to progress the Responsible Tourism agenda. Tomorrow evening's meeting at the Vintry, a wine bar near Bank underground station, will be no exception. From my perspective, however, it will be slightly different as I am the 'guest speaker' and will spend an hour or so talking about three recently completed consultancy assignments.

The first project is the Cycle Hubs project that we have just completed in Northumberland, working for 18 months to set up a suite of routes radiating out from the two market towns of Wooler and Haltwhistle. At a time when the UK government is very keen to push more and more responsibility onto communities as part of its'Big Society' movement, it has been very instructive to compare and contrast the differing attitudes in the two towns towards the creation of a legacy group that can take the project forward now that our initial seed funding has been exhausted.

The second project was the preparation of a business plan for the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Fife, a small but important museum with a nationally recognised collection relating to the fishing heritage of Scotland, and particularly of the East Coast fisheries which once employed tens of thousands of people. The museum has existed for some 30 years, has a core of local authority financial funding and yet still relies on volunteers for much of the labour needed to care for and present the collections to the public. There is a good cohort of volunteers at the moment including ex-fishermen, academics, accountants and marine engineers. But what is interesting is the way that these men (and they are almost exclusively men who are volunteers at the museum) gravitate towards the 'sexier' jobs of restoring and conserving fishing boats and sailing the boats (particularly Reaper, a historic sail-powered 'Fifie' fishing boat) to other ports up and down the East Coast. There is far less interest in the unglamourous jobs of staffing the till in the shop or catologuing the photograph collection. So even when there is volunteer support, it is not always easy to direct it in the most effective direction - I know many museum curators who are afraid to do anything that might upset volunteers and drive them away - better some input than none!

And the final project I shall be discussing is an evaluation I carried out for UNWTO of the Saudi Council for Tourism and Antiquities Urban Heritage Programme. In many ways this seems totally different from the others but there are similarities. In one of the flagship projects, Rijjal Al Maa, a village of four and five storey stone-built houses in the mountains of Aseer, a community-based group has been investing its own resources in the conservation of the historic core of the village in order to protect and preserve the traditional urban form. They recognise that this is not only their own heritage, but also that without their involvement, they run the risk of the state party diverting its attention towards other, equally worthy causes. In two of the other historic villages participating in the scheme there are other interesting issues arising - at Al Ghat north of Riyadh, much of the leadership has come from one family (related to the Saudi Royal Family by marriage) who have the resources to be able to invest in the restoration of their original home in the village, thus setting an example (and challenge) to others in the area. And in Dhi'Ain in Al Baha province, ownership of the whole village has been transferred into a trust so that the conservation and re-presentation of the village for tourism purposes can be delivered effectively and to the highest standards.

No matter where I work as a consultant, I constantly am faced with new permutations of the community:state party relationship, and feel that there is still much that we can do in this country to learn how to make the most of community passion for heritage.

Experiencing community tourism in Kumaon, India

I’ve recently returned from a fascinating two weeks in India where I spent part of the time trekking between villages located in and around the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in Utterachand Province,. The holiday was booked through VillageWays, a small, specialist tour operator (www.villageways.com) that is wholly Indian owned and whose primary purpose is to help develop responsible tourism in communities that to date have been bypassed by tourism development, and where there are few other opportunities to generate income. The project was three years in the planning and since they started accepting customers in 2008, some 3,000+ people (mainly middle-aged, middle class Brits) have spent time enjoying the views, wildlife and of course hospitality of this wonderful part of the world.

One starts and finishes the trip near Almora at the Khali Estate, originally a mountain retreat for the British government’s representative in the area and subsequently one of the earliest ashrams established by Mahatma Ghandi. Indeed, one of Khali’s proud boasts is that three Indian Prime Ministers – Nehru, Indira Ghandi and Rajiv Ghandi – have stayed there (the other boast is that it has been an entirely vegetarian estate for more than 60 years).

Having met our guides – in our case two local villagers called Deepak and Kheem - we spent the first evening planning the next six day’s walking. There is a range of routes within and around the Sanctuary suitable for walkers of all abilities and fitness levels. During the trip we averaged around 4 hours walking a day which was well within our capabilities despite the altitude (up to 2,450 metres) and temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees.

Arriving at our day’s destination by early afternoon allowed us time for lunch, a rest and afternoon tea before taking a tour of the village, visiting people’s homes, spending time wandering through the fields and, on one memorable occasion, joining the local boys in a game of cricket on an abandoned agricultural terrace – to get four runs, you had to hit the ball down four terraces!

The accommodation in each village has been purpose-built by the villagers themselves, and is styled on local houses although instead of space for animals in the ground floor, there are basic but perfectly adequate bedrooms for the walkers. Each guest house takes a maximum of 6 people so the villages are never over-run by tourists, which seems to be a very important aspect in terms of minimising some of the undesirable impacts that are often associated with tourism in emerging destinations.

Food is entirely vegetarian throughout the holiday, the ingredients are locally sourced wherever possible and are almost exclusively organic. To suit the palates of their guests, most of the curry dishes are milder than would normally the case although we were given the opportunity, as we got to know our guides better, to ‘spice up’ the food.

All of the cooking, cleaning and porterage services are carried out by local people who are paid at rates agreed by all community members and that are, reportedly, higher than the industry average. More interestingly, every family and landowner receives a payment of 50 rupees per visitor, per night. Some 80% of this is retained by the family or landowner and the remaining 20% is paid directly into a village fund where it is used to finance projects that benefit everyone in the community such as providing an electric fence to keep boar and deer out of the best agricultural land, or upgrading the local school facilities.

A key aspect of this holiday is the chance to get to know the local people on their own terms – although we were very much paying tourists, there was a sense that we were invited guests and hence the framework for interaction wass very different than on a ‘normal’ trip. For instance, in one village – Satri – some of the local women came to the guest house one evening to sing whilst our guide led the dancing. But we too were expected to perform – a dance or a song – and did so happily (if a little out of tune at times).

After six days of walking on narrow forest tracks, often strewn with red rhododendron petals, and having seen some wonderful views, it was a real shock on the final day to arrive in a small town and see metalled roads, cars, buses, cafes and shops. We finished this first part of the holiday with a trip to the important Hindu temple complex at Jageshwar where we gave thanks for a wonderful, safe trip and sought blessings for the next phase of the holiday, a stay in the Corbett Tiger Reserve. More of that later......

Illuminating Hadrian's Wall

Am about to head off to Northumberland to view this major public art event/ celebration of the Hadrian's Wall World Heritage Site (www.illuminatinghadrianswall.com). I quote from the website:
Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall will create a spectacular line of light from coast to coast. This once in a lifetime event will take place on Saturday 13 March 2010 and will follow the route of the 84 mile long Hadrian’s Wall Path National Trail. Around 500 individual points of light placed at 250 metre intervals will be used to light up the Wall. The first one will be illuminated at a public event at Segedunum Roman Fort at Wallsend in the North East, with the line of light then making its way along the Wall to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria over the following hour. As it reaches Carlisle there will be a second public event ‘Welcoming the Light’ to celebrate the light’s arrival and passing through.
Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall aims to capture the imagination and highlight the immense scale and beauty of Hadrian’s Wall and the countryside, villages, towns and cities that it passes through. 2010 is also the 1600th anniversary of the end of Roman Britain in AD410 – one of the greatest turning points in our history. So as well as celebrating a truly iconic piece of world heritage the line of light will help to mark this hugely significant anniversary.
Why am I interested? I grew up close to the Wall - it was a favourite location for family outings and also school trips. And I have invested a lot of time as a consultant working with many different stakeholders across the area helping them to develop a more responsible approach to tourism development. So I have a personal and professional interest in seeing the event. But even more importantly, it gives me a great opportunity to celebrate my 50th birthday not just with my wife and my parents but with thousands of others! And they are lighting 500 candles for me!

Responsible Tourism in Poland

I recently gave an interview to Rzeczpospolita online, the e-version of one of Poland’s leading daily newspapers. Journalist Anna Bugajska was keen to learn more about responsible tourism, what it means and what it could offer Poland as it seeks to develop its tourism sector. Polish speakers can access the whole article by following this link: http://www.rp.pl/artykul/416551.html

Responsible Tourism in Poland

I recently gave an interview to Rzeczpospolita online, the e-version of one of Poland’s leading daily newspapers. Journalist Anna Bugajska was keen to learn more about responsible tourism, what it means and what it could offer Poland as it seeks to develop its tourism sector. Polish speakers can access the whole article by following this link: http://www.rp.pl/artykul/416551.html

RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IN POLAND

I recently gave an interview to Rzeczpospolita online, the e-version of one of Poland’s leading daily newspapers. One of our alumni, Gosia Barecka, was kind enough to put journalist Anna Bugajska in touch with me. Anna was keen to learn more about responsible tourism, what it means and what it could offer Poland as it seeks to develop its tourism sector. Polish speakers can access the whole article by following this link: http://www.rp.pl/artykul/416551.html. For non-Polish speakers, I was re-iterating the importance of tourism contributing to social development and resource protection as well as delivering livelihoods for local people.

World Travel Market

Just back from a really good couple of days at WTM in London. Met old friends, made new contacts and enjoyed some excellent presentations. I particularly enjoyed Andres Calderon's paper on cultural heritage and tourism in Peru and also David Souden's presentation on the work of Historic Royal Palaces here in the UK.

At the end of the session I was chairing it became clearer than ever that responsible tourism at heritage sites needs a true and transparent partnership between heritage and tourism professionals as well as with host communities, and that every project needs a champion.

Will post links to all the papers when they are online.

Cycle tourism in Northumberland

One of the very best ways to appreciate the fabulous landscapes of Northumberland has to be on two wheels – the kind you pedal yourself! Cycling along the country lanes, taking in the views of woodlands, heather-clad moors and fields of sheep and cattle, you’re reminded everywhere of the rich heritage of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria. And with a wealth of archaeological and historical sites to visit, not to mention picturesque villages and great pubs and cafés, there’s always an excuse to get off the bike and take a break from the saddle.

The International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT), from Leeds Metropolitan University, is working with the Glendale Gateway Trust, the Haltwhistle Partnership and other partners to develop cycling around the market towns of Wooler and Haltwhistle. The project is funded through the Market Town Welcome Programme as part of the Rural Development Programme England (RDPE) by Northumberland County Council on behalf of ONE NorthEast. The Market Town Welcome Programme in Northumberland is helping key towns to achieve their full potential as tourist destinations and prioritise investment in improvements to the towns’ attractions and facilities.

Over the next 18 months you’ll see exciting routes being developed for all abilities – from mountain-bike trails and challenging day rides to gentle ‘softie’ circuits. Of course, there’ll be support services too, such as cycle hire and repair shops. The two ‘hubs’ of Haltwhistle and Wooler will be the first focal points of Northumberland’s new cycle tourism venture – after that, we expect that other market towns in the region will join in to establish Northumberland as one of the UK’s leading cycling destinations.

Keen cyclist Anna Waddilove will be carrying out much of the work from a base in Hexham. A graduate of ICRT’s Responsible Tourism Management programme and a former employee of Sustrans, Anna is new to Northumberland and brings a fresh perspective to the area – perfect for understanding what visitors want! After her first few weeks in the area, Anna says “I’ve fallen in love with Northumberland already! Stunning scenery, quiet roads, fantastic light - and even the weather’s been not half bad …so far! It all feels so peaceful and remote yet you’re never more than an hour and a half from Newcastle. Perfect cycling country, with bucketfuls of added interest.” Meanwhile, the other members of the team – Simon Woodward and Janet Cochrane – have known Northumberland since childhood and formed a deep affection for its glorious scenery and romantic history which they’re looking forward to sharing with others.

Anna has already started mobilising local tourism and cycling interests to work together to make the area as cycle-friendly as possible. Early on, she’ll be trying out new routes and encouraging accommodation owners and other tourism businesses to participate in the ‘Cyclists Welcome’ scheme and to offer local produce on their menus – so don’t be surprised if you find her in your local tea-room sampling the area’s finest food and drink!

To learn more about the cycle hubs project – whether you’re a local resident, a keen or novice cyclist, a local business interested in what the project can offer for you, or any other interested party – come along to one of the public meetings for a presentation and informal chat.

Timing: 7pm for 7.30pm – 8.30pm (approx.)

Monday 23^rd November - Main Hall, Cheviot Centre, Padgepool Place, Wooler.

Tuesday 24^th November – Garden Suite, Centre of Britain Hotel, Main Street, Haltwhistle.

Responsible Tourism

Two great articles in today's Observer newspaper - one in the colour supplement looking at conflicts between tourism development and traditional Masai lifestyles in Kenya, the other in the main paper looking at the threats tourism brings to fragile World Heritage Sites and including a short interview with ICRT's very own Xavier Font!

Responsible tourism in the Scottish islands?

Hilary and I recently had a wonderful week’s holiday at Gribun on the Isle of Mull, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Staying with friends in a small cottage (http://www.mull.zynet.co.uk/bacca/) overlooking Loch Na Keal, we had plenty of time to explore the island and visit a wide range of tourist businesses.

I was particularly impressed by the 3-year old mature cheddar available at the creamery near Tobermory, the wonderful food in the Fish Cafe in the old CalMac building on the harbour in Tobermory itself (Balamory to our younger readers) and the tweed jackets and wraps (see picture) made from Hebridean wool and available only at a small weavers shop on a farm at Ardalanish on the south-western corner of the island. The small sculpture park in the woods above Calgary Bay and of course the Abbey on Iona were other highlights.

Almost every business we came across tried its best to use locally-sourced materials or produce, a lot of restaurants and cafes featured organic foods and there were several examples of businesses, such as the Glengorm Estate (http://www.glengormcastle.co.uk/) participating in the Green Tourism Business Scheme (http://www.green-business.co.uk/) – the UK’s national sustainable tourism certification scheme, and a project for which I prepared the feasibility study back in the mid-1990s.

In almost every sense, one could feel that the Isle of Mull is a perfect example of a destination that has fully embraced the principles of responsible tourism. Yet there was a niggling doubt at the back of my mind during the whole holiday and it came to the forefront when I finally realised that with the exception of the crews on the Lochaline and Iona ferries and the weavers at Ardalanish, I barely heard a Scots accent during the whole week.

Most of the shop staff in Tobermory were Polish, the majority of people we met in the Iona Community seemed to be English or American and our bread-making neighbour was Dutch! So has tourism really given rise to a fresh wave of clearances, as Capercaillie suggest in their song “Waiting for the Wheel to Turn” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIK8ChDeWAw)? Have we created another dislocated society just to satisfy our desire for a rural, ‘cultured’ tourism destination? Answers on a postcard please.........

P.S. Whilst away I read Calum's Road, the true story of how one man fought single-handedly to improve access to his small community on the island of Raasay. This inspirational book by Roger Hutchinson is well worth reading, not least because it shows how successive local, regional and national governments have carried on, well into the late 20th century, the clearances initiated by the lairds and sheep farmers in the 19th century.

Five Days, Fifty Ways to Make Tourism More Responsible

Next week sees an important online conference where delegates can debate the current state and future of responsible tourism. Between 18th and 22nd May, anyone can engage with the debate by accessing:

http://planeta.wikispaces.com/responsibletourism

and

http://www.artyforum.info/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=170&PID=212#212

Get involved!!!!

Local galleries and the art of (re-)discovering your local area

Last Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of a new exhibition at Scarborough's South Street Gallery (www.southstreetgallery.co.uk). South Specific presents images from a number of regional artists, all of whom have been inspired by the coastline, moors and wolds of this part of North Yorkshire. Andrew Cheetham's inspired seascapes and David Chalmers' black and white photographs of Scarborough's spa buildings and sea defences highlight the appeal of the coastline even in the dark and stormy days of winter. And a trip to the gallery itself offers the perfect little trip out, particularly if combined with afternoon tea in the quirky Francis' tea rooms immediately opposite. Supporting local businesses such as these are at the heart of responsible tourism, so next time you are wondering what to do on a snowy afternoon, take a trip down a sidestreet in your home town. You may be surprised at what you find!