New Orleans as a destination with sustainability and resilience

 

1. My favorite DMO and destination with the best practice of sustainability and/or resilience

 

New Orleans & Company is the official destination marketing organization (DMO) of one of my favorite cities, New Orleans. New Orleans & Company also happens to be my favorite DMO. This is due in part to the effort it puts into supporting New Orleans through its very thorough website, https://www.neworleans.com, and in part because of its vision to “ensure New Orleans remains the most remarkable, unique, and welcoming city in the world, not only to live and work in, but also to visit” (New Orleans & Company, 2024a). The keyword there is “remains” because the city is itself amazing, with plenty to offer to its residents and tourists, and it will continue to offer its beauty as long as it is able to preserve its essence.

My love of New Orleans stems primarily from its extensive historic architecture. The city has 44 districts and 143 buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places (National Park Service, 2024). The city’s oldest building, the Convent of the Ursulines, was completed in 1753 and is not only the oldest in the city, but also the oldest in the state and in the Mississippi Valley (Reeves, n.d.). The preservation of these historic places is instrumental in sustainability, but it takes more than legal and cultural pressures to ensure their preservation. Their preservation is reliant on the mindset of all who impact those structures.

 

2. The best practice of sustainability and/or resilience

 

It is no secret that New Orleans seeks to preserve its architecture, culture, and environment. In order to achieve these goals, its DMO maintains and encourages multiple best practices of sustainability. These practices fall in line with the standards set by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which were built around socio-economic, cultural, and environmental impacts, in additional to sustainable management (Global Sustainable Tourism Council, 2019). As part of achieving these goals, New Orleans & Company is one of multiple partners for the Recycle Dat! project, which participation in can be argued as its best practice of sustainability.

 Recycle Dat! started in 2023 to enable the easy collection of recyclables during Mardi Gras in order to make this massive event more sustainable (City of New Orleans, 2024). The Office of Mayor LaToya Contrell (New Orleans & Company, 2024b) partnered with multiple organizations, such as New Orleans & Company, to set up six recycling hubs to collect glass, aluminum, and beads and to hand out bead recycling bags, which resulted in collecting 14,510 pounds of recyclable event waste (City of New Orleans, 2024). With the help of partners and volunteers, this project continued in 2024 and can continue into the future to increase New Orleans’ sustainability and resilience over the long-term.

 

3. Why this is the best practice

 

The importance of Recycle Dat! goes beyond the environmental and community-relations benefit of reducing event waste through recycling. It also strengthens the synergistic relationships between the DMO and other partners, advertises the importance of environmental stewardship, showcases the impact that any individual can have on the event and the city, and changes mindsets from being focused on consumption to preservation. It helps New Orleans & Company to fulfill multiple destination management roles that Morrison (2019) describes as important for DMOs, such as partnership and team building, community relationships and involvement, and visitor management. It is the ability of the program to help New Orleans & Company fulfill these roles that make participation in the program a best practice.

  

4. Benefits and consequences for consumers

 

Recycle Dat! helps consumers by providing a convenient resource for disposal of unwanted Mardi Gras beads and waste while also holding them accountable for proper disposal of such items. Rather than simply finding the closest trash can or littering the streets, consumers are expected to be more mindful of preservation and direct their recyclable event waste to a recycle hub. This also requires gaining an understanding of which waste is recyclable, which they might not have been aware of before exposure to the program.

 The process of becoming more aware of the environmental consequences of the waste they generate should also make consumers more cognizant of the impact they have on a destination. If they are aware that they are expected to be good stewards through recycling, they may be less inclined to be bad stewards in other ways such as intentionally or negligently vandalizing a historic building or urinating in public. This may help save them from the legal and financial consequences of those actions and also helps to build good habits that they will take home with them or carry on to other destinations.

 The act of participating in a program that benefits more than just the consumer should also help consumers build a feeling of camaraderie with other event attendees and of making a contribution to the destination. Although they do not have to qualify as green travelers, they will have reduced the negative impact that their travel would have brought to New Orleans. They can return home knowing that they helped to make a difference in the outside world.

 

5. Benefits and consequences for the destination, tourism industry and the local residents

 

The benefits and consequences of Recycle Dat! are as apparent for the destination, tourism industry, and local residents as they are for consumers. Just as consumers are given the opportunity to feel that they are reducing their negative impact and are instead making a contribution, partner organizations, volunteers, and local participants can benefit from building camaraderie and knowing that they have made a positive impact. The 14,510 pounds of recyclable event waste that was collected in 2023 was saved from New Orleans landfills and from adding that amount of strain on the city’s trash removal services. The aluminum collected was sold to raise funds for local charities (City of New Orleans, 2024). More than 20 partners (City of New Orleans, 2024) potentially built stronger ties with each other by collaborating on this common goal. And importantly to all, community support for the benefits of tourism is improved by having reduced the negative impacts of tourism (Morrison, 2019).

 

6. How can this best practice be encouraged for other DMOs

 

Not every destination has an event as large and recyclable-waste-generating as New Orleans’ Mardi Gras, but every DMO can become involved in some form of waste reduction and recycling program. Humans produce waste products, whether it is an individual stopping for food on their way to another destination, an organization hosting its annual conference, or a large-scale public event.  It is a DMO’s prerogative to assist in reducing the negative impact that tourism causes through increased waste production. Creating or assisting with projects similar to Recycle Dat!, but adapted to the needs of their own destination, will help the DMO to better fulfill its roles.

 One of a DMOs natural tools is its ability to advertise. The success of Recycle Dat! is a brag-worthy accomplishment that can simultaneously advertise New Orleans as a destination to visit while guiding other DMOs to follow this best practice. This can help to establish New Orleans & Company as a role-model and leader among DMOs, strengthening its reputation as an industry leader within its own destination. Other DMOs can then follow the methods advertised about Recycle Dat! as a template to help them lead the organizing of similar projects in their own destinations. The list of partners can provide ideas on which organizations to partner with within their own destination, possibly even organizations that they had not thought to work with before, which will expand their range of partners. The funds raised can give them ideas on how to combine environmental sustainability with economic sustainability and support of their local community. Each DMO can take the pieces that fit their needs and figure out unique ways to apply them.

 

7. The organization that should be in charge of encouraging more sustainable and/or resilient practices by DMOs

 

The organization that should be in charge of encouraging participation in programs like Recycle Dat!, and other sustainable and resilient practices, should be international in order to not limit its outreach either intentionally or inadvertently to a single region or country. This will also allow it to pull ideas and resources from a broader range of sources. Three of the most viable candidates include the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), UN Tourism, and the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Although ECOSOC is dedicated to sustainable development (United Nations Economic and Social Council, n.d.), it is not industry specific. WTTC is industry specific and includes sustainable development in its mission, but it has a strong focus on lobbying rather than focusing primarily on oversight (World Travel & Tourism Council, n.d.). UN Tourism is left as the ideal choice because it is highly focused on sustainable development, but specifically for the tourism industry and with strong focus on industry development (UN Tourism, n.d.).

 UN Tourism used to be known as the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) but changed its name in 2024 to match its rebranding in an attempt to feel more approachable and connected to its Member States (UN Tourism, 2024). Similar to when a destination updates its brand, UN Tourism made an investment in updating the image communicated to its stakeholders (Morrison, 2019) to better match its key goals. The key goals of UN Tourism include “enhancing the well-being of individuals, safeguarding the natural environment, stimulating economic advancement, and fostering international harmony” (UN Tourism, n.d.). These align well with the sustainability standards set by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council,  which were mentioned earlier as socio-economic, cultural, and environmental impacts, in additional to sustainable management (Global Sustainable Tourism Council, 2019).

 

8. If I were in charge of this organization:
Strategies, tactics and actions that I would use to encourage more sustainability and/or resilience

 

If I were in charge of UN Tourism, I would take advantage of the opportunity afforded by its rebranding to become more involved at the local level of Member States and other areas in need of assistance. While encouraging partnerships and providing guidelines or recommendations for best practices are instrumental to improving sustainability and resilience, taking action by working side by side with destinations and their DMOs on location gives the opportunity to better understand the unique situations they face and ensure full understanding for all parties involved. The information learned can then be applied to improving best practices locally and on a broader scale.

 Another strategy I would use to encourage sustainability and resilience is to implement educational programs on the standards of sustainability for every level from prior to school-aged children to post-retirement age adults. Education can build support when it helps community members to better understand what is being done and how it helps them and their community. Starting in youth can help to build good habits to advantage the future, but adults should also be reached in order to more directly impact current actions and policies. An additional aspect of educational programs is ensuring that the resources and data that are currently provided, such as the UN Tourism Tourism Dashboard, can be accessible to and put to use by DMOs and destinations. Providing a resource lacks meaning, past being a gesture, unless it can be utilized.

 

9. My role in supporting and improving sustainability and/or resilience of tourism destinations as a consumer and/or industry practitioner

 

As a consumer, my role in supporting and improving sustainability and resilience is dependent on my making sure that I am well educated or at least aware of the cultural, economic, and environmental issues of the destinations I visit, and of how they are being addressed. When I am aware of what is going on, then I have the option of becoming involved as a volunteer or participant who follows the recommendations made by those following best practices, or at least of not unintentionally working against their goals. When I travel, I try to follow the habits I have at home of recycling, avoiding wastefulness, and not doing damage. I also enjoy trying out what is unique to the destinations I visit, such as eating at locally owned restaurants and shopping at locally owned stores. If I wanted to visit a chain location that I have at home, I could have just stayed home.

 As an industry practitioner who works in tourism consumer research, it is my job to research the needs, desires, and experiences of my destination’s consumers and potential market. I need to understand what the consumer is aware of and what they are willing to participate in, in terms of actions that affect sustainability and resilience of the destination. Some of this work is in how to influence consumers in order to better align their expectations and preferences towards sustainability. Some of the work is in estimating the impact that sustainability measures will have on their satisfaction and decision to visit or return again. My ability to adequately research consumers directly affects the work of those with jobs on the operations side of the destination. My work is used by their leadership to determine what the best practices might be to meet sustainability and resilience goals while maintaining happy guests.

 

 

References

 

 

City of New Orleans. (2024). Recycle Dat 2024. City of New Orleans NOLA Ready. https://ready.nola.gov/mardi-gras/recycling-2024/
 
Global Sustainable Tourism Council. (2019). GSTC Destination Criteria Version 2.0. https://www.gstcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/GSTC-Destination-Criteria-v2.0-with-SDGs.pdf
 
Morrison, A. (2019). Marketing and Managing Tourism Destinations (2^nd ed.). Routledge. SBN
9781351714808.

National Park Service. (2024). National Register Database and Research. National Register of Historic Places. https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/database-research.htm
 
New Orleans & Company. (2024a). About New Orleans & Company. https://www.neworleans.com/about-us/about-new-orleans-and-company/
 
New Orleans & Company. (2024b). Recycle Dat! New Orleans. https://www.neworleans.com/plan/sustainability/recycle-dat/
  
Reeves, S. (n.d.). Oldest Building Features of the French Quarter. FrenchQuarter.com. https://www.frenchquarter.com/oldquarter/#:~:text=The%20oldest%20building%20in%20Louisiana,it%20was%20completed%20in%201753.
 
United Nations Economic and Social Council. (n.d.). About Us. https://ecosoc.un.org/en/about-us
 
UN Tourism. (n.d.). UN Tourism:  Bringing the world closer. https://www.unwto.org/
 
UN Tourism. (2024). UNWTO Becomes “UN Tourism” to Mark A New Era for Global Sector. https://www.unwto.org/news/unwto-becomes-un-tourism-to-mark-a-new-era-for-global-sector
 
World Travel &Tourism Council. (n.d.). 30 years of WTTC. https://wttc.org/about/about-us
 

All photos are from the personal collection of the writer.