Since its creation in 1987, Lisbon Convention Bureau (LCB) has helped businesses worldwide to enjoy the benefits of Portugal’s warm and welcoming capital.
Demand for the city has grown enormously in recent years, as has Lisbon’s reputation for being a corporate and cultural hotspot. More than 200 associates are now affiliated with LCB, including hotels, venues, meeting facilities and incoming agencies, all of which are keen to welcome international businesses.
For organisations, one of the most enticing things about Lisbon is its accessible transport links. Flights from other parts of Europe take between just one and three hours to reach the city, while flights from the US last between five and eight. The airport is also located close to the city centre, making business journeys as seamless as possible.
Business travellers are attracted to Lisbon not only because of its friendly, tolerant community, but because of the activities on offer
Keeping up with the times
So popular is Lisbon that it was named the world’s ninth best destination for international congresses in 2015 by the International Congress and Convention Association. It currently hosts more than 145 international events per year, putting it above Prague, Copenhagen and Amsterdam as a magnet for corporate travellers.
Despite being one of the oldest cities in the world, Lisbon has continued to innovate, keeping its eye on global trends so as to understand what visitors expect and require. Business and, indeed, leisure travellers are attracted to the Portuguese city not only because of its friendly, tolerant community, but because of the perfect combination of day and night time activities on offer – whether it’s shopping or a trip to the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, the city’s famous opera house.
Many have called the city one of the most stunning in Europe, and often the world, with its clean, bright streets complete with architecture of the Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Manueline periods. Even the busiest of travellers will find tranquillity along the magnificent River Tagus or in Lisbon’s fine surrounding towns: the local fishing village of Cascais, the Nature Park of Arrábida and the romantic resort of Sintra are just some of the best neighbouring spots.
The city also has one of the best golf scenes in Europe, with 21 courses dotted throughout the area. These courses can be enjoyed all year round, as Lisbon happens to have one of the best wintertime climates on the continent. In the evening, visitors can soak up Portugal’s outstanding gastronomy and nightlife scene, which is again often rated as one of the best in Europe.
Travel is made all the easier by the affordability of Lisbon. In spite of its sophisticated surroundings, it was named as the best value city in western Europe by the Post Office Travel Money’s City Costs Barometer 2016, and is often praised for its competitive accommodation rates.
Number one choice
The city enjoyed enormous success as an events spot in 2016, with the annual Web Summit taking place in early November and many other important meetings scheduled soon afterwards. In 2017, Lisbon can look forward to hosting the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, among other high-profile gatherings.
LCB is constantly on hand to assist in the organisation and instigation of such events. As one client said: “Thank you, both for your kindness, support and for organising a truly fantastic trip… I have to say without hesitation that in 20 years of working alongside some amazing suppliers, DMCs and venues, in that time the event this week in Lisbon tops them all.”
All in all, Lisbon has become a premier destination for any organisation looking to work abroad, making it truly unstoppable as a MICE destination.
The town of Biarritz is located in one of France’s friendliest and most beautiful regions: Nouvelle Aquitaine. Situated at the crux of the Basque, French and Spanish cultures, this little piece of paradise is just waiting to be discovered by business tourists and congress-goers.
Once a seaside resort prized by European royalty, Biarritz is now a thriving hub of sports, culture and fine dining. The French Government recently selected the Biarritz-Basque country brand, a gem of international tourism, to highlight the perks of tourism in France, along with 19 other destinations. The region’s international outlook is particularly beneficial to congress organisers looking to add value to their events.
Once a seaside resort prized by European royalty, Biarritz is now a thriving hub of sports, culture and fine dining
Ocean meets mountains
For the past 20 years, Biarritz has been one of Europe’s main MICE hubs, hosting nearly 85,000 congress-goers each year. Biarritz has been a member of the largest national and international congress organisation networks since 1996. Of the 450 events that are held each year, one third are devoted to business tourism.
Biarritz is the destination for those seeking art de vivre, relaxation, culture and creativity. Ideally located by the sea at the foot of the Pyrenees, guests will find international surf spots, golf courses, rugby fields, Basque pelota courts, festival grounds and an exceptional natural environment. Its 4km-long oceanfront overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, making Biarritz one of the emblematic destinations on the Basque Coast. The weather is mild, with landscapes ranging from beaches to majestic mountains.
Organisers of congresses, seminars and incentive programmes are intimately familiar with what Biarritz has to offer: a unique experience of harmony, excitement, and authenticity. It’s easy to reach, too: with an international airport, Biarritz is connected to major European and international cities via Air France, Air Iberia and British Airways. The proximity of large cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse and Bilbao also adds value to this destination.
Biarritz the imperial
The town draws many visitors for its incentive programmes, seminars and congresses. On location, nine destination management companies create, organise and structure events to make every stay powerful and unforgettable.
The town’s reception infrastructure meets the requirements of all kinds of professional events. Three convention centres – the Casino Municipal, the Bellevue and the Gare du Midi – are located within walking distance of one another, while a recently built performance hall, the Halle Iraty, is perfect for larger events.
Biarritz’s hospitality offerings are quite varied, with no fewer than 3,500 hotel rooms available, of which 2,200 are in the town centre. A favourite with visitors is the Hôtel du Palais, the only palace in France to be located on the Atlantic coast, along with three five-star hotels, nine four-star hotels with conference rooms, and several extended-stay hotels. Guests can also enjoy the vast selection of restaurants headed by chefs who excel in fine dining and traditional cuisine.
Biarritz is elegant and creative, surprising and eclectic. The town is used to hosting guests and boasts facilities suited to all events, all located within a pristine historical setting. It is a destination that lets you customise your event to rally your event-goers around a successful experience.
So, what do you say? How about an adventure in the Bardenas desert, or a low-tide ride along the majestic coast on a fatbike? Relax in the thalassotherapy centres and admire the view, or take a cooking class with a chef who will guide you at the market and in the kitchen alike.
You can also choose between an introduction to surfing with Antoine Delpero, the longboard world champion, or an introduction to golf at the Ilbaritz centre, which is unique in Europe due to its exceptional ocean view and its cutting-edge infrastructure.
The condition of the global meetings and events industry is continually enriched by new initiatives that increase participants’ energy levels and improve their wellbeing. One particularly well-documented method is the implementation of activities that rest the mind through exposure to nature – something that invigorates travellers and refreshes their ability to be alert and receptive to new ideas.
Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, is nestled amid stunning landscapes, and in just one day visitors can experience the country’s staggering natural beauty through glaciers, waterfalls, volcanoes, lava fields, geysers, hot springs and fjords. Depending on the time of year, these natural wonders are further enhanced by winter’s Northern Lights or summer’s midnight sun.
Some places unexpectedly capture you far more tightly than you imagined possible. The power of Iceland lies in its energetic source of nature, culture and local mentality. All these elements serve as the perfect backdrop for a memorable and effective event.
More than meetings Visitors often talk about the palpable energy, diversity and authenticity that lend the island its otherworldliness and unique spiritual inspiration. Good energy is contagious. For that reason, it is perhaps no wonder why the Icelandic nation ranks among the happiest in the world.
The power of Iceland lies in its energetic source of nature, culture and
local mentality
In Reykjavik, you can choose from various meeting facilities that offer stunning views of nature – however, delegates should be prepared to explore and experience the natural wonders that are available just outside the city limits. Unlike some major European cities, whose size can be intimidating, Reykjavik has a small-scale urban centre that attendees find easy to navigate. The hassle-free city centre is safe, clean and filled with restaurants, shopping, culture and vibrant nightlife, as well has having been officially designated a City of Literature by UNESCO. Visiting delegates enjoy interacting with the friendly Icelandic locals, many of whom speak English as their second language, in addition to countless other Scandinavian and European languages.
In the past few years, Iceland has emerged as one of Europe’s most dynamic gastronomic destinations, full of exciting places in which curious visitors can taste thrilling new recipes. For 15 consecutive years, several Icelandic chefs have been listed in the top 10 of the respected Bocuse d’Or culinary competition. But undoubtedly the most important ingredient in Icelandic cuisine is location: the country is blessed with an abundance of fresh water, pristine nature and fertile fishing grounds, while geothermal energy makes it possible for a year-round supply of fresh vegetables, grown locally in organic greenhouses, to be on offer.
The Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre, Reykjavik
Exploring nature’s backyard The wide network of suppliers within Meet in Reykjavik Convention Bureau offers the resources and know-how to design unforgettable itineraries, including activities such as snowmobiling, kayaking, white-water rafting, horseback riding, hiking, sea angling, glacier tours, whale-watching, cave exploration, superjeep safaris, and wellness options in the country’s numerous geothermal spas, such as the famous Blue Lagoon. Specialist destination management companies have years of experience in Iceland’s unique natural conditions, so planners can be confident that every precaution will be taken to ensure the safety and enjoyment of participants.
In recent years, the number of conference delegates landing on Iceland’s shores has begun to grow, indicating a growing international interest towards this island. Strategically located midway between North America and Europe, the country is easily accessible, with direct air connections to 80 destinations in both continents. It is closer than many think – only four-to-five hours from the east coast of North America and two-to-three hours from Europe. As a result of its geographical location, Iceland has soaked up influences from both continents.
When travelling on business, we like to cultivate our curiosity, bring home wisdom and find moments that take our breath away. A destination that fulfils professional requirements and provides memorable stories is surely something every event planner is looking for.
With the UK and much of the rest of the world still in shock at the result of the EU Referendum, it is easy to forget some of the reasons that have been cited by British property buyers for making the move to mainland Europe – primarily, the favourable cost of living and quality of life compared to the UK. This is more important now than ever as uncertainty prevails in the UK.
Many have been concerned about rising costs in the popular expat and holiday home destinations of France, Spain and Portugal as a result of sterling falling against the euro in the aftermath of the vote result. However, although this rate was far better last summer, the sterling-euro rate we are seeing now as the situation settles somewhat is much the same as it was in 2014, when the property markets in Spain and Portugal first started to pick up post-financial crisis.
In the PropertyGuides.com annual Cost of Living survey, expats in France, Spain and Portugal compare the price of an average basket of groceries between their country and the UK.
Spain comes out as the clear winner in terms of value in 2016, closely followed by Portugal, which is also known for its low cost of living and the quality of life that expats enjoy there. This year, France was not that much more expensive than Portugal, which shows that the quality of life and bang for your buck is improving for Brits in France, too.
Looking back over the past three years, it is interesting to see how the cost of living compares across these popular countries, with Spain taking the lead in both 2016 and 2015.
In a number of cases, the price of everyday essentials in France, Spain and Portugal costs less in 2016 than in the previous year, when the sterling-euro exchange rate was particularly strong. So, although the fluctuating exchange rates mean that larger purchases, such as buying a property, are affected, there is not a significant difference to the overall cost of living.
Elaine Ferguson, Head of the PropertyGuides.com Resource Centre, told Business Destinations: “It is also an eye-opener when comparing prices to the UK, as living costs in the destinations most popular with UK expats and holidaymakers are all noticeably cheaper.”
For the past year – since the date of the EU Referendum was announced – Ferguson has been talking to anxious would-be property buyers about their plans to buy abroad and the implications of Brexit on a daily basis.
“This is a reflection of the enduring popularity of France, Spain and Portugal with UK homebuyers, whether they plan to move permanently, or simply enjoy a holiday home there throughout the year”, Ferguson added. “It is also a strong incentive for those who are serious about enjoying the quality of life offered in Europe to continue with their plans to buy, despite the referendum decision. As all three countries rely heavily on British investment into the local economy and property markets, we expect this strong relationship to continue – and for British property owners to enjoy their time in these countries for many years to come.”
More information on the cost of living in each country and guidance on the implications of the referendum can be found at www.propertyguides.com, or you can call the Resource Centre on +44 207 898 0549.
‘Treat others how you would like to be treated’ is a motto that most people abide by when going about their everyday routine. And yet for some reason, when it comes to travel, politeness and civility are all too quickly cast aside. With regards to flying in particular, it would seem that an attitude of ‘every man (or woman) for themselves’ automatically reigns supreme.
Most of this self-regarding approach is focused around luggage (in all of its varying forms and weights) and starts from the moment that one sets off on their arduous journey. If using public transport during the rush hour commute, an inordinate number of travellers – wielding their enormous suitcases – tend to forget that others are trying to make their sorry journey to or from work. Consequently, their cumbersome luggage takes up valuable space on a train or bus – space that could instead be used to squeeze in another one or two despairing commuters.
Then, when traversing busy train stations and airport terminals, these bulky articles often take on a life of their own, swivelling around the place with little control or sense of direction. Their owners, meanwhile, simply look straight ahead without any thought for the cases they pull along, even despite their containment of precious belongings. Although wheel-bearing suitcases are a vital invention that the modern age has kindly provided us with, when in use they encourage a strange sense of obliviousness and a severe lack of spatial awareness. In fact, if someone was to record the number of times that a poor soul has been tripped up or crashed into by a wielder of these vital yet horrible creations, any responsible government would surely force us all to take lessons and tests in luggage etiquette.
Utter obliviousness
This nonsensical lack of common courtesy again rears its ugly head at the departure gate, where we are all forced to wait in what can only be described as a pen for a simply unknown period of time. The level of egocentricity adopted in such situations struck me particularly just the other day while waiting for a frustratingly late plane from Cyprus’ Larnaca Airport on a Sunday evening; at a time when clearly I was not the only one anxious to get home early enough to have a decent night’s sleep before making that sorry commute to work the following morning.
Given the time and day, as expected, the plane was fully booked and so the gate was packed; consequently, there were barely enough seats in the waiting area to go around. There I noticed an elderly lady asking a young man if he would offer her his seat. He obliged, which is nice – though of course, in an ideal world, she would not have to ask. But what really struck me was that in the row of uncomfortable metal seats opposite, two very unfriendly-looking ladies had taken it upon themselves to use the chair in between them as a pedestal for their handbags – clearly, the care they had for their fellow passengers could not be any less.
Despite a growing number of people standing around laden with all the superfluous articles that we feel necessary to take with us on such trips, so unapproachable were the pair that no one dared say anything. Instead, these weary travellers looked on in yearning for the queuing to begin so they could eventually reach an uncomfortable seat of their very own for the next five hours.
While it is easy to understand tempers are high and patience is low during the long hours of travelling, surely it is logical that the whole experience would be far easier and more pleasant if we all had a little more courtesy for one another – after all, in the aim or getting from A to B, aren’t we all in it together?
The global trade system faces an important turning point at the end of this year, one that was postponed when China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) almost 15 years ago. The US and the EU must decide whether they will begin to treat China as a ‘market economy’ in their trade policies. Unfortunately, even as the battle escalates over the course of this year, the terms of the choice ensure that nothing will be done to address the global trade regime’s deeper flaws.
China’s WTO accession agreement, signed in December 2001, permitted the country’s trade partners to deal with China as a ‘non-market economy’ (NME) for a period of up to 15 years. NME status made it a lot easier for importing countries to impose special tariffs on Chinese exports, in the form of antidumping duties. In particular, they could use production costs in more expensive countries as a proxy for true Chinese costs, increasing both the likelihood of a dumping finding and the estimated margin of dumping.
Today, though many countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile and South Korea, have already rewarded China with market economy status, the world’s two biggest economies – the US and the EU – have not. But, regardless of whether they do, antidumping measures are ill suited to the task of addressing concerns about unfair trade – not because such concerns are ungrounded, but because they go well beyond dumping. Antidumping facilitates protectionism of the worst kind, while doing nothing for countries that need legitimate policy space.
Commercial logic is not the only consideration that should govern democracies’ economic relationships
Antidumping policies
Economists have never been fond of the WTO’s antidumping rules. From a strictly economic standpoint, pricing below costs is not a problem for the importing economy as long as the firms that engage in the strategy have little prospect of monopolising the market. That is why domestic competition policies typically require evidence of anti-competitive practices or the likelihood of successful predation. Under WTO rules, however, pricing below costs on the part of exporters is sufficient for imposing import duties, even when it is standard competitive practice – such as during economic downturns.
This and other procedural considerations make antidumping the preferred route for firms to obtain protection from their foreign rivals when times are tough. The WTO does have a specific ‘safeguard’ mechanism that enables countries to raise tariffs temporarily when imports cause ‘serious injury’ to domestic firms. But the procedural hurdles are higher for safeguards, and countries that use them have to compensate adversely affected exporters.
The numbers speak for themselves: since the WTO was established in 1995, more than 3,000 antidumping duties have been put in place (with India, the US and the EU being the heaviest users). The corresponding number for safeguard measures is a mere 155, with developing countries being the heaviest users. Clearly, antidumping is the trade remedy of choice.
Political logic
But the global trade regime has to address issues of fairness, in addition to economic efficiency. When domestic firms must compete with, say, Chinese firms that are financially supported by a government with deep pockets, the playing field becomes tilted in ways that most people would consider unacceptable. Certain types of competitive advantage undermine the legitimacy of international trade, even when (as with this example) they may imply aggregate economic benefits for the importing country. So the antidumping regime has a political logic.
Trade policymakers are deeply familiar with this logic, which is why the antidumping regime exists in its current form, enabling relatively easy protection. What trade officials have never taken on board is that the fairness argument extends beyond the dumping arena: if it is unfair for domestic firms to compete with foreign entities that are subsidised or propped up by their governments, is it not similarly unfair for domestic workers to compete with foreign workers who lack fundamental rights, such as collective bargaining or protections against workplace abuse? Aren’t firms that despoil the environment, use child labour or provide hazardous employment conditions also a source of unfair competition?
Such concerns about unfair trade lie at the heart of the anti-globalisation backlash. Yet legal trade remedies permit little room for them beyond the narrow commercial realm of below-cost pricing. Labour unions, human rights NGOs, consumer groups or environmental organisations do not have direct access to protection in the way that firms do.
A can of worms
Trade experts have long been wary of opening up the WTO regime to questions about labour and environmental standards or human rights, fearing the slippery slope of protectionism. But it is becoming increasingly clear that excluding these issues does greater damage. Trade with countries that have very different economic, social and political models raises genuine concerns about legitimacy. Refusal to acknowledge such concerns not only undermines these trade relationships; it also jeopardises the legitimacy of the entire global trade regime.
None of this implies that democracies should not trade with non-democracies. The point is that commercial logic is not the only consideration that should govern their economic relationships. We cannot escape – and therefore must confront – the dilemma that gains from trade sometimes come at the expense of strains on domestic social arrangements. Public discussion and deliberation are the only way that democracies can sort out the contending values and trade-offs at stake. Trade disputes with China and other countries are an opportunity for airing – rather than repressing – these issues, and thus taking an important step toward democratising the world’s trade regime.
Ever since the 2008 financial crisis, it has been common to chastise economists for not having predicted the disaster, for having offered the wrong prescriptions to prevent it, or for having failed to fix it after it happened. The call for new economic thinking has been persistent – and justified. But all that is new may not be good, and that all that is good may not be new.
The 50th anniversary of China’s Cultural Revolution is a reminder of what can happen when all orthodoxy is tossed out the window. Venezuela’s current catastrophe is another: a country that should be rich is suffering the world’s deepest recession, highest inflation and worst deterioration of social indicators. Its citizens, who live on top of the world’s largest oil reserves, are literally starving and dying for lack of food and medicine. While this disaster was brewing, Venezuela won accolades from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, the Economic Commission for Latin America, British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the US Centre for Economic Policy Research, among others.
A broken market
So what should the world learn from the country’s descent into misery? In short, Venezuela is the poster child of the perils of rejecting economic fundamentals. One of those fundamentals is the idea that, to achieve social goals, it is better to use – rather than repress – the market. After all, the market is essentially just a form of self-organisation whereby everyone tries to earn a living by doing things that others find valuable. In most countries, people buy food, soap and toilet paper without incurring a national policy nightmare, as has happened in Venezuela.
But suppose you do not like the outcome the market generates. Standard economic theory suggests that you can affect it by taxing some transactions – such as, say, greenhouse gas emissions – or giving money to certain groups of people, while letting the market do its thing.
In Venezuela, subsidies for gasoline and electricity are larger than the budget for education and healthcare combined
An alternative tradition, going back to Saint Thomas Aquinas, held that prices should be ‘just’. Economics has shown that this is a really bad idea, because prices are the information system that creates incentives for suppliers and customers to decide what and how much to make or buy. Making prices ‘just’ nullifies this function, leaving the economy in perpetual shortage.
In Venezuela, the Law of Just Costs and Prices is one reason why farmers do not plant. For that reason, agro-processing firms shut down. More generally, price controls create incentives to flip goods into the black market. As a result, the country with the world’s most extensive system of price controls also has the highest inflation, as well as an ever-expanding police effort that jails retail managers for holding inventories and even closes the borders to prevent smuggling.
What the people want
Fixing prices is a short, dead-end street. A longer one is subsidising goods so that their price remains below cost.
These so-called indirect subsidies can quickly cause an immense economic mess. In Venezuela, subsidies for gasoline and electricity are larger than the budget for education and healthcare combined; exchange rate subsidies are in a class of their own. With one daily minimum wage in Venezuela, you can buy barely a half-pound (227g) of beef or 12 eggs, or 1,000l of gasoline or 5,100kWh of electricity – enough to power a small town. With the proceeds of selling a dollar at the black market rate, you can buy over $100 at the strongest official rate.
Under these conditions, you are unlikely to find goods or dollars at official prices. Moreover, since the government is unable to pay providers the necessary subsidy to keep prices low, output collapses, as has happened with Venezuela’s electricity and health sectors, among others.
Indirect subsidies are also regressive, because the rich consume more than the poor – and hence appropriate more of the subsidy. This is what underpins the old orthodox wisdom that, if you want to change market outcomes, it is better to subsidise people directly with cash.
Another bit of conventional wisdom is that creating the right incentive structure and securing the necessary know-how to run state-owned enterprises is very difficult, so the state should have only a few firms in strategic sectors or in activities that are rife with market failures. Venezuela disregarded that wisdom and went on an expropriation binge. In particular, after former president Hugo Chávez was re-elected in 2006, he expropriated farms, supermarkets, banks, telecoms, power companies, oil production and service firms, and manufacturing companies producing steel, cement, coffee, yoghurt, detergent and even glass bottles. Productivity collapsed in all of them.
Misguided strategies
Governments often struggle to balance their books, leading to over-indebtedness and financial trouble – yet fiscal prudence is one of the most frequently attacked principles of economic orthodoxy. But Venezuela shows what happens when prudence is frowned upon and fiscal information is treated as a state secret.
Venezuela used the 2004 to 2013 oil boom to quintuple its external public debt, instead of saving up for a rainy day. By 2013, Venezuela’s extravagant borrowing led international capital markets to shut it out, leading the authorities to print money. This caused the currency to lose 98 percent of its value in the last three years. By the time oil prices fell in 2014, the country was in no position to take the hit, with collapsing domestic production and capacity to import, leading to the current disaster.
Orthodoxy reflects history’s painfully acquired lessons – the sum of what we regard to be true. But not all of it is true. Progress requires identifying errors, which in turn calls for heterodox thinking. But learning becomes difficult when there are long delays between action and consequences, as when we try to regulate the water temperature while in the shower.
When reaction times are slow, exploring the heterodox is necessary, but should be done with care. When all orthodoxy is thrown out the window, you get the disaster that was the Chinese Cultural Revolution – and that is today’s Venezuela.
The internet, in all its glory, has given every individual a world stage. Any person, no matter who or where they are, can have their voice heard from Tivat to Timbuktu with the simple press of a button.
This revolution in information sharing has led to another within consumer culture: the now-indispensable online review. This particular consequence of the digital age has added a whole new dimension to the dynamic between customers and businesses.
For the first time in history, companies are at the mercy of immortalised feedback that is available for the whole world to see. Many organisations have embraced this evolution with gusto: some use it as an all-important key in their shared economy offerings, while others have created entire businesses off the back of it. Of course, there are those that miss the whole point of reviews altogether and a small minority that resort to falsification or penalisation. Being in its early stages, review culture is a phenomenon not without its flaws.
When seeking holiday accommodation, individuals can now base their choices on the commentary provided by those who have been there and done that
The customer is always right
Almost all business leaders subscribe to the philosophy of customer centricity. For centuries, word of mouth played the dominant role in this paradigm, but the internet has since set an entirely different stage for it.
“The review culture, fronted by the likes of TripAdvisor and integrated into most of the big e-commerce sites, such as Amazon and eBay, continues to give consumers a louder voice”, observed Patricia Hyde, Field Marketing Manager at Zendesk. “Review culture allows the consumer a safety net and reassurance that the product they’re buying is of good quality. If consumers are dissatisfied, they have the fall-back of complaining about the brand and, at the very least, denting the image the brand has with other potential consumers, if they’re unable to obtain a refund or replacement.”
It has become commonplace for an array of customer reviews to appear instantaneously for almost anything – from the calzone made by a local Italian restaurant to the latest iPhone by Apple, or even the manners of a shop assistant at Walmart. “Reviews are increasingly becoming an integral part of the customer journey. The latest figures from the BrightLocal Consumer Report state that 92 percent of buyers are making decisions based on the reviews they read online”, said Andrew Mabbutt, CEO of global ratings and reviews provider Feefo. “It all comes down to trust.”
As such, when seeking holiday accommodation, individuals can now base their choices on the commentary provided by those who have been there and done that. Reviews can help a consumer finalise their decision on a kitchen appliance, based not on the product’s merits as claimed by the manufacturer, but on those given by their peers. This multinational and incessant dialogue has taken away so much of the guesswork previously required in making a purchase that consumers now feel more confident than ever.
Social media further facilitates the ongoing communication between consumers and businesses. According to Hyde: “Social media is an accelerator as well as a platform in its own right. Indeed, many consumers are using social media as a first port of call to engage with customer service teams.” But while platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have helped to prompt this transformation, Hyde argued more is at play: “It’s really just part of a zeitgeist – a wider cultural shift to empower consumers to give feedback and opinion on brands and their products.”
All publicity is good publicity
Within seconds, a bad review can pass through the hands of thousands, even » millions of potential customers, thereby damning the company that offered a lousy product or service. Likewise, an excellent review can help elevate a company to incredible heights, which, predictably, has inspired some to falsify feedback in order to get ahead.
“A positive online rating can be key to boosting traffic to a business, with one caveat: the rating must be verified as genuine”, Mabbutt explained. “Google uses purchase-verified reviews, supplied by trusted review platforms, to generate their seller ratings. These display as stars in organic search listings and AdWords campaigns. Their studies suggest that this can increase the click-through rate to websites by as much as 17 percent, and lower the cost of PPC campaigns. Online ratings are the digital word of mouth: BrightLocal’s most recent survey found that 88 percent of consumers trust online ratings as much as personal recommendations, with 72 percent saying that a good online rating would make them trust a business more.”
92%
of buyers make decisions based on online reviews
88%
of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations
Somewhat surprisingly, negative reviews have a positive role to play as well. According to the National Association of Retail Marketing (NARM), foul play is suspected by around 30 percent of online consumers if there are only positive reviews available. Moreover, they are likely to spend more time on a website if there are criticisms to read. NARM also found 95 percent of customers will return to a website if an issue has been resolved quickly.
“Customer feedback is a wealth of information that can be turned into actionable insights. Businesses should look to utilise a review platform with analytic and reporting facilities, allowing them to be alerted to any feedback, respond immediately and publicly, and map trends in what their customers are saying”, said Mabbutt.
Inside information
Amid this trend, review platforms have an increasingly important role to play by bridging the gap between customers and businesses in an objective space. Sites such as TripAdvisor catalogue, categorise and organise reviews, making it far easier and quicker for consumers to scour through the opinions of those both near and far in order to make a well-informed choice. And, perhaps even more importantly, they enhance reliability considerably because their own reputation and business is on the line.
Consequently, review platforms have become an integral part of consumerism, but they also provide invaluable information for companies. “Most platforms, including Feefo, give businesses the opportunity to respond to their customers’ feedback and use the platform as a brand reputation tool”, Mabbutt said. “Review platforms provide the opportunity for businesses to hear the voice of the customer – valuable data that can be converted into increased traffic, sales and business insights.”
There are some companies that take advantage of this relatively novel cultural phenomenon, either through the falsification of reviews or the chastisement of those who dare speak ill of a product or service. While they threaten the system and the foundation of trust that it rests upon, it is only a matter of time before such creases are ironed out through mechanisms such as intelligent algorithms and non-disparagement legislation.
When that happens, review culture will become practically infallible, allowing advice, support, critique and protection for the consumer to transpire without exception, while necessitating superior practices from corporations as well.
Don’t believe the hype
Online reviews have made the consumer experience all the better: they have increased transparency, alerted individuals of potential pitfalls, and given a space for grievances and praise to be aired. However, despite the many benefits we of the internet age enjoy, there is a degree of foul play prevalent in the system. There is a minority of distrustful companies that pay for good reviews and even some that penalise customers for any negative comments posted online.
Five stars from John Doe
Amazon is perhaps the worst casualty of false reviews, with the incidence seemingly growing alongside the expansion of the company. With its reputation at stake, in October last year the online goliath began legal action against 1,114 unidentified individuals for providing fake reviews on its US platform.
A lawsuit was filed against the nameless defendants for offering their services as paid reviewers to Amazon sellers on Fiverr, a website where users can buy and sell small tasks for as little as $5. To get to the bottom of the incident, which involved misleading comments and false ratings, Amazon went so far as to hire Fiverr members itself.
Sadly for Amazon, its problems went beyond that. The company filed a similar lawsuit in April 2015 against several websites for selling false reviews to “a very small minority of sellers and manufacturers”, according to the court complaint. “While small in number, these reviews threaten[ed] to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand.”
To tackle the growing issue, Amazon recently started using an in-house artificial intelligence system that elevates the prominence of verified reviews and uses them to determine a rating, as opposed to taking the average of all reviews – the tactic which enabled fake entries to influence rankings in the first place.
Unwanted honesty
In 2014, after staying at a small, independent hotel in Blackpool, a British couple posted a damning TripAdvisor review of the “rotten stinking hovel”. The pair paid the price for voicing their criticism when they found they had been charged £100 extra on their bill, which the BBC reported as being a product of the hotel’s “bad review policy”. In fact, the policy was even included in the terms and conditions on the booking form for the accommodation, warning of the retribution dished out for bad reviews posted on any website.
On the other side of the Atlantic, just months before, CNN reported that a New York hotel was charging $500 for any negative reviews given by a guest attending a wedding reception at the hotel. Again, the hotel was initially open with its policy, stating on its website that the fee would be deducted from the bride and groom’s deposit.
Such absurd penalties do not stop with accommodation. In 2008, when Utah resident John Palmer failed to receive the $20 worth of goods he had ordered on KlearGear, he complained to the company’s customer service department to no avail. Palmer and his wife reacted, justifiably, with a commentary of their experience on Ripoff Report, a US platform created for that very purpose. The result? KlearGear threatened Palmer with a $3,500 fine unless he removed the criticism. The snag, however, was Ripoff Report’s policy that forbad the complaint’s removal. This resulted in a massive penalty for Palmer, which went unpaid and ultimately left the couple with a bad credit report – something that can have huge repercussions for one’s financial future.
Surprisingly, there is little in the law to stops such penalties against complaints being made about a business. Fortunately, however, this could be set to change; in November 2015, TripAdvisor made a case to the US Senate to ban non-disparagement and anti-review clauses, with numerous senators offering their support to the campaign.
Major international events, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai Expo in 2010, together with China’s vast economic growth and various government-led initiatives, have ushered in a new era for the country’s hospitality sector. As a result of this exponential expansion within a relatively short period of time, it became quickly evident that a shortage of skilled and experienced individuals had transpired.
Although the region’s abundant workforce could make up the numbers, there have been few institutions dedicated to providing hospitality and tourism training. Programmes that do, meanwhile, do not do so to the highest international standards. In response to the region’s mounting need to impart the niche skill and knowledge set that ensures the smooth running and profitability of a top class hotel, a unique model has sprung up in Hong Kong, which is not just teaching trends: it is creating them.
Model for the future
Hotel ICON, an incredibly modern and dynamic establishment with 262 guest rooms and three hugely popular restaurants, opened in 2011. This hotel, however, is unlike any other in the entire world; opened and run by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hotel ICON is not-for-profit, with its main purpose being to educate and train a new generation of hoteliers.
Hotel ICON is not-for-profit, with its main purpose being to educate and train a new generation of hoteliers
When walking through the expansive lobby of Hotel ICON and admiring the lush vertical gardens that stretch along its walls, it would be easy to remain unaware of what goes on behind the scenes. Fully integrated into this highly successful hotel is a leading teaching and research facility, where more than 1,000 20-somethings are taught in lecture halls and classrooms. These rooms can be reached from a separate entrance away from the hotel’s reception, leaving guests undisturbed while allowing students to seamlessly flow between the two sides of the building.
“We envision ourselves as a ‘learning centre’ to inspire and train future hoteliers”, Richard Hatter, General Manager at Hotel ICON, told Business Destinations. “The major rationale and inspiration behind the whole idea is to create an environment for the future hoteliers to first step into the industry, and at the same time provide guests with the most unique and memorable experiences not found in other hotels.”
The school provides students with an invaluable grasp of how a high-end hotel operates, which entails a deep understanding of the functioning of individual departments as well. “For us, as a training hotel, we focus more on hands-on experiences and real life exposure. We empower our interns to serve our guests, to read actual financial figures, to go through every part of the hotel; we make sure everything that they learn is genuine and realistic”, said Hatter. “We are confident that once they walk out of our hotel, they are very much prepared for their career and the real world.”
Aside from such vital technical aspects, there is also the invaluable human element, which is what makes visitors both return and recommend. According to Hatter: “We strongly believe [in] the idea of ‘service from the heart’, which is the essential core value to providing the best service. We are here to deep-root this idea in our next generation.”
The idea of teaching the next generation in this manner is truly remarkable, as the one thing that sets both businesses and entire industries apart is talent. As Hatter explained: “[It is] not merely restricted to the hospitality field – all industries are focusing on talent acquisition. It’s a phenomenon. Every company wants to attract the best candidates to work for them, therefore our hotel is helping to explore the potentials and introduce more talent into the industry.”
By merging a world-class training facility with a first-rate hotel in one single centre, Hatter and his team tap into the very resource that enables them – and the entire market, in fact – to thrive.
Industry innovator
Being an institution that is not chained down to the demands of shareholders or profit-making, Hotel ICON is in a unique position to experiment and innovate. With a forward-looking philosophy at its core, the Hong Kong-based establishment is introducing new ideas and trends that are sending waves throughout the entire industry. One such concept, introduced in 2014, is to provide a smartphone completely free of charge in each room. Guests are able to make international calls, stay connected with social media, and roam the streets of Hong Kong with ease throughout their trip – all for free.
Although a costly experiment, at around $1.2m per annum, it has proven to be hugely successful so far; not only in terms of customer satisfaction and boosting return visits, but also because it enables guests to share their experiences of the hotel instantly by uploading pictures to social media, or writing positive reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor. Other industry firsts include a complimentary minibar in all rooms, as well as a 24-hour ‘timeless lodge’ that allows guests to relax and enjoy free snacks and drinks or freshen up, should they need to before check-in or after checkout.
Such new initiatives, which are offered to visitors upon check-in, are initially trialled via guest rooms that are dedicated to trying out new ideas, designs and technology. ‘Tomorrow’s guestrooms’, as they are aptly called, enable the university to conduct comprehensive and invaluable research into modern concepts, making Hotel ICON a true trailblazer in the region.
Hotel ICON’s unique vertical garden was designed by Sir Terrence Conran
Local vibes
Hotel ICON is situated in Hong Kong’s famous Tsim Sha Tsui quarter, a buzzing district filled with restaurants, shops and museums, including the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Space Museum and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Given that its enviable location on Victoria Harbour was unavailable to other, more conventional hotels, Hotel ICON’s positioning is a strong indicator of the importance it plays in a rapidly developing industry.
Within a short period of time, the establishment has become a lifeline in Hong Kong and a champion for the city’s well-known artists and rising stars. “Hotel ICON takes a new look at Asian hospitality where we emphasise individuality and we are passionate about Hong Kong’s local culture – cosmopolitan art, design, fabulous food and outstanding services, all in all”, said Hatter.
The magic and modernity of Hong Kong are displayed throughout the hotel, which takes a great deal of inspiration from a burgeoning art scene that has become Asia’s finest. Hatter explained: “We’re passionate about local culture because it’s irreplaceable; it’s our very own culture. We focus on showing our guests real Asian hospitality, therefore you can see local elements in every corner of our hotel. There are a lot of hidden gems in Hong Kong waiting to be explored, hence we grab the opportunity to share local arts with our visitors around the globe.”
In line with this celebration of Hong Kong, the Hotel ICON building itself was designed by one of the city’s most celebrated architects, Rocco Yim, and boasts bespoke suites designed by renowned fashion designer and PolyU alumnus Vivienne Tam. The touch of award-winning designer, hotel curator and fellow alumnus, Freeman Lau, is also evident throughout, as is that of Hong Kong style guru Barney Cheng, who designed the staff uniforms.
Along with a celebration of Hong Kong’s best, there is also space for the city’s emerging artists, whose work is displayed throughout the hotel. Adding to the hotel’s super-stylish image are the likes of Sir Terrence Conran and Dr Patrick Blanc, who created the hotel’s vertical garden and designed Above and Beyond (one of the city’s most popular restaurants) respectively.
The greater good
“In the future, we envision ourselves to further improve and train up more and more professionals that contribute back to the entire industry. For a clearer roadmap in the future, there will be two major criteria we would like to stress: education and sustainability. Since we are a training hotel, education has always been inseparable for us, extending from students to staff”, Hatter said. In that respect, Hatter hopes to bring in more experts and professionals from the global hospitality industry to share their ideas and experience, in order to inspire new innovations and new generations.
He continued: “We will be hosting more conferences and forums targeting various hotel divisions. We just presented our first hospitality human capital forum, and it was a great success. There will be more to come.”
Hotel ICON heralds a new era in the hospitality industry. Its unique way of operating provides necessary support to a rapidly expanding industry by feeding it much-needed talent and its most important resource: human capital. At the same time, it helps young people learn, develop and embark upon fruitful, lifelong careers. Significantly, not only is this unique model altruistic, it is incredibly successful too: Hotel ICON achieved profits aimed for year 10 in just its third year, while it is currently rated as the second best hotel in Hong Kong on TripAdvisor.
The hotel’s position as an educator and research facility is one that has hugely appealed to visitors, as evidenced by the establishment’s mounting popularity. Nowadays, travellers want more than mere accommodation, and they want more than just luxury: they want to experience something different, and they want to engage with their environment. Helping to train a new generation of hoteliers offers both of these in abundance. Hotel ICON therefore provides a rare opportunity for guests to give something back, and this form of social contribution adds huge value to what could be just an ordinary hotel stay elsewhere.
The institution continues to implement new concepts and ideas that guests are eagerly responding to, pushing boundaries and, with them, the industry forward in exciting new directions. All the while, Hotel ICON shies away from a bottom-line-driven, faceless corporate stance in its decision to embrace the local culture – yet in doing so, performs better than many of its corporate peers.
Boasting 30 world records, thousands of skydives and an ambition to one day jump through the stratosphere, American skydiving champion Cheryl Stearns has earned herself a rightful place among the biggest names in the history of the sport. Her 43-year-long career has taken her from the arid desert lands of Arizona, where she grew up, to jumps in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and beyond. Her exploits have twice earned her the title of Women’s Overall World Champion in style and accuracy parachuting: what this essentially means is that Stearns is an expert at carrying out manoeuvres mid-freefall, and at landing on the exact spot she targets.
When all the hours are added together, it turns out Stearns has spent a total of more than five days falling through the sky, experiencing the world in a way very few ever will. She has jumped over 20,000 times – an achievement no other woman, and very few men, can claim – and has covered more than 35 countries, landing everywhere from the Statue of Liberty and a pool at Sea World to the St Louis Arch and the Swiss Alps.
Not satisfied with all this, Stearns continues to set herself other challenges, such as doing 352 skydives in the space of a single day back in 1995, setting a Guinness World Record for the most jumps by a woman in 24 hours. Her next goal is to attempt one of the highest altitude parachute jumps to be made in history: she wants to skydive from over 130,000ft, which has only ever been attempted once before.
As the first woman to join the Golden Knights – the US Army’s elite parachuting team – back in 1977, none of this is beyond belief. Stearns continues to break the boundaries and to prove that ambition, passion and hard work are the key to achieving the most courageous of goals. Business Destinations’ Laura French spoke to her about how it all began, what motivates her in skydiving, and how she’s using her own knowledge to help shape the world’s future champions.
You were the first woman to complete 20,000 skydives. How does that achievement make you feel?
In a way it was just another jump, but when I really look at it, I realise it has taken over 40 years of enjoyment and hard work to reach this milestone. I’m not a professional jumper so I have had to save and work for my jumps, so it’s been a rewarding career and sport for me.
I always wanted to know what it felt like to travel at 120mph and fall through the air
What’s been your proudest achievement to date?
Getting into the army parachuting team was a huge achievement, because that helped me to get the real training I needed. It really kick-started my jumping career. The other time was when I won my first World Championship in 1978 – I was up against lots of well-known jumpers, and I just happened to beat all of them, even though they had no idea who I was.
How did you first get into skydiving?
I always wanted to know what it felt like to travel at 120mph and fall through the air. To satisfy that, I needed to go and do a jump, so I looked it up in the Yellow Pages and found the closest parachuting place.
If tandem was around 43 years ago, I probably would have just made the one jump and that would have satisfied me. But we didn’t have that at the time, so I had to make many jumps before I could do a 30-second freefall and actually see and feel myself in the air. Then I found out about competing in parachuting, which I didn’t even know you could do, and that’s how I continued on with it.
I’d always been competitive and this was one sport that was really challenging in terms of mind and body awareness, as well as decision-making. Since then the equipment has changed, so I’ve had to adapt to those changes.
What have you learned from the sport?
I grew up very fast by jumping at an early age [17]. It taught me to respect my peers, equipment and life in general. I found out that we’re not invincible.
What is it about skydiving that drives your passion for it?
I have always loved jumping and flying because it’s just me against me. I am totally in control – I’m just flying my body or my parachute. I constantly need something to challenge me and, like flying an aeroplane, it’s completely hands-on.
Where’s the best place in the world you’ve skydived, and what would your dream location be?
I have jumped all over the world – I really enjoyed jumping onto the side of a mountain in the Swiss Alps, and onto one of the Thousand Islands in Indonesia, which I did from a C-130. I also jumped out of a German Junker – riding in that, let alone jumping out of it, was pretty neat. I would love to jump into Yosemite Park.
Stearns jumps from an aeroplane on one of her skydives
What’s your biggest goal for the future?
To make a high altitude jump, from at least 130,000ft.
You had a bike accident in 2014. Do you find it ironic that your biggest injuries have been on the ground?
Not really. In jumping I can control my environment, or at least make the decision that it isn’t safe to jump due to weather or my ability. When you’re riding a bike or driving a car, you can’t always control what the other drivers do. The only thing in jumping that I can’t control is the plane ride up, and whom I compete against.
Do you feel more at home on the ground or in the sky?
Definitely in the sky – either flying or jumping.
What thoughts cross your mind just before a jump? Do you still get scared?
I only get scared if I don’t like the conditions. I’ve never been injured jumping, so that says a lot about safety and making good decisions on when to jump and when not to. My heart races and then calms down when I compete, because I always want to make sure I perform to the best of my ability. Then, when I’m in the moment, my instincts take over.
What are the most important qualities for skydiving?
All jumpers are different, but it does take a certain kind of person to do it. You need to have confidence in yourself. Jumpers like adventure, and they tend to be the types of people I gravitate towards.
How have you used your experience to coach others?
I teach one-on-one if people ask me for advice. I run the annual Cheryl Stearns Accuracy Training Camp and Meet, which takes place in Lodi, California every April. People come from all over the world to jump and get some coaching, either from me or the other jumpers attending. Everyone has a good time and learns a lot. This is my time to give something back to people.
Before, the goal for me was to excel and to try and win at parachute meets, while sharing my knowledge with others. Now I enjoy coaching and seeing people excel from what I’ve taught them. The best part is when one of my students beats me – that’s when I know I’ve done a good job.
What’s your number one mantra?
Be safe and don’t push your limits. You can keep moving your limits by educating yourself.
What motivates you the most?
The challenge of whatever is out there, and the pure love of whatever I am going after.
The death of Dame Zaha Hadid at age 65 this year gave the artistic community chance to reflect on a fearless visionary who succeeded not only in bringing countless works of art to life, but in remaking the very fabric of architecture itself. Branded by many as the world’s greatest female architect, Hadid’s legacy will no doubt live on through the many and majestic buildings for which she is responsible.
Yet it wasn’t with a building but with a series of drawings, paintings and sketches that Hadid first appeared on the world stage. In contrast to the experiments with spatial concepts for which she has become known, these early works cut a jagged form and borrowed heavily from early Russian avant-garde artists. Impressive though they were, despite some early recognition from her peers, it took the better part of two decades for any actual building work to start. Not until her 40s did she really explore this new world of “floating forms and fragmented, visionary cityscapes”, as described by the Financial Times.
Arguably her drawings were too ahead of their time, and their abstract leanings led many to the conclusion that, while they were undeniably impressive on paper, they were ultimately unbuildable. It would take a decade for technology and tastes to catch up, though when they did, Hadid’s creations were still revolutionary.
Hadid’s most famous structures have an elastic, alien quality to them. Few buildings are as thrilling or as structurally complicated
as hers
A famously slow start
When in 1982 Hadid won a competition for the design of the Peak Leisure Club in Hong Kong, the architecture community finally sat up and took note. Its “excavated subterranean spaces, distinctive horizontal layers and floating voids” were encased “within a unique ‘geology’”, according to Zaha Hadid Architects. However, the landmark project was abandoned not long after, and it would take another 10 years for Hadid to find a commission befitting of her talents.
Her first official project, commissioned by Rolf Fehlbaum, CEO of furniture company Vitra, was a fire station not far from the German-Swiss border. While relatively modest in scale, the commission gave Hadid the opportunity to finally display her talents. The completed building, again according to Zaha Hadid Architects, “defines rather than occupies space – emerging as a linear, layered series of walls, between which programme elements are contained”. Unfortunately, it was deemed unfit for purpose, and here began Hadid’s reputation for designing what some have called ‘unbuildable’ buildings. Challenging as they are, her polarising visions are part and parcel of what makes her meteoric rise to the top so interesting, and so inspirational.
No stranger to controversy, she was seen by many as a fiercely independent maverick, and one whose divisive style has been imitated perhaps more than any other designer living or dead. Her most famous structures – mostly cultural institutions – have an elastic, alien quality to them. Few buildings are as thrilling or as structurally complicated as hers.
A rare kind of courage
Born in 1950 into a well-to-do and politically active family in Baghdad, Hadid attended the American University in Beirut and studied mathematics, before moving to London in 1972 where she studied at the Architectural Association. It was here that she met her friend and mentor Rem Koolhaas. Although the two competed for many of the same jobs, Koolhaas’ was among the most heartfelt tributes paid to her in the days after her death.
Speaking to architecture and design magazine Dezeen, Koolhaas called Hadid a “combination of beauty and strength”, and spoke of the contribution she made to his and others’ lives. “She was somebody with a rare kind of courage”, he said. “It was not constructed courage but an inevitable courage, she was just made that way. It was an almost physical thing.” The Dutch architect also expressed surprise that some obituaries had described her as a British, as opposed to an Iraqi, architect, and said her roots in Baghdad had been hugely influential in informing her work.
Establishing her practice in 1979 on the strength of positive responses to her drawings and paintings, Hadid struggled to attract commissions prior to that now-famous fire station in Basel. Interested in the concept of fragmentation and the linked ideas of abstraction and explosion, Hadid’s unique architecture philosophy did little to endear her to risk-averse clients. However, once the commissions started to roll in, her place in the architectural pantheon was assured.
Notable works
Arguably the commission that cemented her status as a world-leading visionary came in the 21st century with the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Arts in Cincinnati (CAC). On hearing of her death, the CAC’s Director, Raphaela Platow, called Hadid “one of the world’s most inspirational and important architects” and harked back to a time when The New York Times called the construction itself “the most important American building to be completed since the Cold War”.
Renowned architect Zaha Hadid died in March 2016
Conceived as a “dynamic public space”, the building was unlike anything seen before in the world of architecture, and it came as little surprise when in 2004 Hadid was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize – widely considered to be the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for architecture – for her built, theoretical and academic work. Since then, she has had a hand in the design and development of countless incredible buildings dotted around the world, many of which have cemented something close to landmark status.
The Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany is one such example. Described at the time as an “architectural adventure playground”, according to Zaha Hadid Architects, Phaeno was constructed in 2005 as a complex, dynamic and fluid space, and in many ways epitomises her design aesthetic. Typically for Hadid, the building challenged formal conventions and jarred with the city’s existing sites. It demanded to be seen and admired.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Z-shaped Evelyn Grace Academy in London, completed in 2008, at long last cemented Hadid’s reputation in her lifelong place of work. Likewise, the London Aquatics Centre was purpose-built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, with its fluid geometry mimicking that of water in motion, an idea that again encapsulated Hadid’s engagement with the landscapes in which her buildings were located.
In keeping with her polarising disposition, some of Hadid’s commissions attracted wide-ranging criticism. For example, a $1bn commission for the new Iraqi Parliament Building was labelled highly inappropriate for a country in the midst of an economic recovery, while her stadium for Qatar’s 2022 World Cup was criticised in relation to human rights abuses exposed in its construction phase. Perhaps her biggest setback, however, was in 2015, when her plans for the 2020 Olympic Stadium in Tokyo were controversially scrapped after construction costs skyrocketed to unmanageable extremes.
A woman apart
Certainly, Hadid was no stranger to hostility, and her success in what remains a male-dominated industry is surely one reason for her notoriously thick skin. Her accession to stardom earned her the nickname ‘Queen of the Curve’, while her success has done much to dispel the notion held by a misguided few that there is no career path for women in the world of architecture. When she won the Pritzker Prize in 2004, she was the first woman to do so, while in 2016 she was the first woman to win the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for architecture.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian in 2006, she said: “As a woman, I’m expected to want everything to be nice, and to be nice myself. A very English thing. I don’t design nice buildings – I don’t like them. I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthy quality. You don’t need to make concrete perfectly smooth or paint it or polish it.”
Though far from the only female architect to have received widespread critical acclaim, Hadid is perhaps the first to have achieved true celebrity status and smash clean through the glass ceiling. Months on from her death, men and women alike hold her up high as an inspiration and an example of what can be achieved with an independent spirit and a passion for the new. Years – if not decades – from now, her buildings will remain, and so too will her influence.
On August 25, the US National Park Service (NPS) will celebrate a centenary of environmental stewardship and safeguarding of the US’ most prized natural assets. To mark the momentous occasion, the National Park Foundation and NPS together kick-started the Find Your Park movement, which aimed to restore public interest in what historian Wallace Stegner called “America’s best idea” and pay tribute to some of nature’s most spectacular locales.
As it was put by filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan in their landmark 2009 documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, “[National Parks] are more than a collection of rocks and trees and inspirational scenes from nature. They embody something less tangible, yet equally enduring – an idea, born in the United States nearly a century after its creation, as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical”.
However, as deserving as the celebrations are, they conceal a deeper truth about the state of the NPS and the US’ national parks generally. And while the management of more than 400 parks – a total network of over 340,000sq km of land – is an achievement in itself, the agency is teetering on the brink of a crisis.
National parks are among America’s most prized attractions: not only do they promise an enviable return on investment, but they are a valuable community service
Infrastructural challenges
In the lead-up to the centennial celebrations, it came to light that the NPS was tending to a backlog of repair and maintenance works to the tune of $11.5bn – five times higher than the agency’s latest budget from Congress. Worse is that the shortfall represents a $440m premium on the previous year, and around half is priced according to simple upgrades for roads and structures that have gone without any attendance for years.
“Our 400 national parks, trails, and recreation areas are being enjoyed in record numbers, with 307 million visits last year alone”, Elizabeth Ouzts, Communications Director at Environment America, told Business Destinations. “But the backlog of maintenance needs – approaching $12bn – is also at record levels. And massive funding cuts over the last decade have left our parks and other public lands understaffed and struggling to keep up with day-to-day operations.”
It’s worth noting, however, that visitation measured on a per capita basis has actually been declining since the late 1980s. This is even more interesting considering the NPS has expanded significantly since then in terms of the number of national park units it maintains.
The agency itself has also slipped down the rankings in the official Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey, and while most agencies witnessed increased job satisfaction and commitment, those working at the NPS harbour concerns to do with senior leadership, teamwork and workplace diversity. Ouzts herself emphasised that the national parks are “treasured natural areas set aside for all the public to enjoy, today and in the future; not sold to special interests for short term gain”. Nonetheless, she concedes the general public is quite different from what it was 100 years ago. “At the same time, a narrow set of moneyed interests and their allies in Congress are trying to sell off lands and stop the creation of new parks. So we’ve got to make sure our parks’ visitors – and advocates – are just as diverse as the country is today, otherwise we risk losing them altogether.”
Visitors to and employees at the parks are all edging closer to retirement. The number of visitors under the age of 15 has fallen by half in the past decade, and half the employees in park service leadership roles are set to retire before the year’s up. With as many as 75 percent of NPS employees aged 40 or above – and only seven percent aged 29 or younger – there is currently only one park ranger for every 100,000 visitors.
“So the maintenance backlog is a major challenge”, Shawn Regan, Research Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Centre, told Business Destinations. “The infrastructure necessary to support park visitors, such as the roads, trails, wastewater systems and park facilities, are in rough shape, and it’s getting worse each year.” The major challenge, Regan explained, will be finding a solution that doesn’t just rely on Congress for appropriations. “With the backlog as large as it is, it’s just not practical to rely on Congress to solve the problem. And in fact, Congress often makes the problem worse by continually adding new units to the NPS but neglecting to adequately fund the upkeep of existing national parks.”
The Grand Canyon is one of the National Park Service’s most popular sites, attracting 4.5 million people a year
The situation is somewhat paradoxical given the level of popular admiration for the NPS’ mission to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations”. In a recent Gallup poll, respondents considered ‘a commitment to national parks and open space’ to be the federal government’s second most important function in a list of 19.
The figures also appear to confirm that the parks system is a top performer in terms of returns. According to the National Parks Conservation Authority, in 2014 the NPS received upwards of 292 million recreational visits, generated $30bn in economic activity and supported 277,000 private sector jobs, making it clear national parks are among America’s most prized attractions: not only do they promise an enviable return on investment, but they are also a valuable community service. Without them, a great many conservation programmes would be non-existent, and the country’s postcard picture sites – of which there are countless – would be no more.
However, while each dollar invested in the NPS returns approximately $10 in economic activity, the agency still lacks the resources needed to fulfil its most basic of functions.
A new demographic
The situation facing the NPS is well known, yet the reasons for it are little understood. Speaking to CNN, former Yosemite park ranger Bob Roney suggested younger generations are perhaps too “plugged-in” to appreciate the “unpluggedness” of the US’ national parks. “I started in the 60s and 70s – the hippie generation”, he said. “People were wanting to get back to the land. I don’t see that as much today… People want modern conveniences. Young people are more city-oriented and tend not to be wild-lands-oriented.” However, this outlook – while common – is perhaps a little short-sighted, and certainly too simplistic, to explain in full the agency’s wide-ranging challenges.
The Junior Rangers programme, for example, is one area in which the NPS is looking to boost participation among the youth segment. With more than 200 groups in place, last year more than 800,000 children were sworn in as Junior Rangers, receiving a certificate and a badge to commemorate the occasion. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter stands that the agency is not necessarily short of applicants, but short of resources: as big an issue as the demographic challenge is, the crux of the matter lies not in attracting talent, but in securing additional funding.
To date, approximately 10 percent of the NPS’ funding comes from its visitors, while the rest comes from Congress. “If the NPS is going to tackle its maintenance backlog, it’s going to need to find ways to be more self-sufficient, as most national parks were when the agency was first created”, said Regan. “And one practical way to do that is to look to the people who actually use and visit national parks.”
Across the country, seasonal staffing and educational programmes have suffered cuts, while less-visited sections of the parks have faced closures. Then-President George W Bush himself instructed park superintendents to make cuts in “areas that won’t cause public or political controversy”. Spiralling construction costs have exacerbated the issue of funding, and more expensive facilities risk worsening beyond repair if they are allowed to deteriorate further.
“As we invite more Americans to discover the special places in the National Park System during our centennial celebration, we need to have facilities that can accommodate them and provide the best possible visitor experience”, said the agency’s Director, Jonathan Jarvis, in a press release. A failure to support the system’s most basic maintenance requirements could, in theory, erode the agency’s assets to irreparable levels and compromise some of the US’ most important natural sites.
The challenge lies in keeping corporate influence at bay, and the NPS has a fine line to tread between private support and creeping commercialisation
“The roots of the National Park Service lie in the parks’ majestic, often isolated natural wonders and in places that exemplify America’s cultural heritage”, according to the NPS’ Financial Year 2016 Budget Justifications report. “But parks and public lands now extend to places difficult to imagine 100 years ago – into urban centres, across rural landscapes, deep within oceans, and across night skies.” However, assuming national parks are allowed to fall further into disrepair in the coming years, it is conceivable we will see a trademark American institution succumb to the lure of commercialisation.
Parks rebranded
For the time being, at least, evidence of commercialisation in national parks is not all that widespread, although there are indications of corporate encroachment here and there. The sites may be strapped for cash, but the prospect of a moneyed corporation bankrolling a national park is enough to unsettle the average American visitor. For its first 100 years of service, the NPS has relied almost entirely on federal funding paired with philanthropic donations. However, as it heads into its second century, we could be about to see the agency open its doors to corporate influence.
Already the NPS has agreed to receive corporate donations of a certain size with “unobtrusive recognition”, according to The Washington Post, a move that has some critics concerned that corporations could wield unwarranted influence in the agency’s affairs. In 2010, when Grand Canyon National Park officials entered into the final stages of a ban on the sale of disposable water bottles, a sudden U-turn prompted many to express their concerns about the agency’s allegiances. When the truth emerged that Coca-Cola, a major donor to the National Park Foundation and owner of Dasani Purified Water, had convinced NPS Director Jon Jarvis to shelve the plans – if only for a short while – critics were quick to cry foul.
The same could be said of a $2.5m partnership with Anheuser-Bush, through which the brewing company set up a string of concerts based in national parks and arranged for park landmarks to appear on cans of Budweiser. Some have even contested the pairing on contractual grounds, given the language in the agency’s Director’s Order 21 states it “is NPS policy to decline direct donations from a company which holds or is seeking a concessions contract or which would identify the NPS with alcohol or tobacco products”.
Despite the criticisms, it’s not all that controversial to suggest there could be a place for corporate funding in the NPS’ future. The criticisms pertain mostly to the fear that corporations – particularly non-American firms – could exercise undue influence over decisions that directly affect the NPS and its jurisdiction. The challenge lies in keeping corporate influence at bay, and the NPS has a fine line to tread between private support and creeping commercialisation.
Yosemite National Park is known for its giant sequoia trees and dramatic waterfalls
Certainly, there is a place in the parks system for philanthropy, and it’s to be expected that any sizeable donation is rewarded with a plaque or prominent display. Less desirable is the prospect of corporate donors being allowed to buy the rights to build and operate buildings – a potential shift in strategy that park officials say is vital if they are to address the $11.5bn backlog in maintenance projects. Critics argue that corporations could muscle in on the opportunity to brandish their slogan on every conceivable ad space, moulding natural wonders to their own image. Under the terms of this new policy, they say, park facilities and services could fall under the control of corporate behemoths desperate to accrue the brand points associated with any investment in America’s prize national assets.
Signs of recovery
Undue influence is a concern, and for good reason, although there are instances of corporations putting their skills and expertise to good effect: in Yellowstone National Park, Toyota and ConocoPhillips have fronted funds for a variety of causes, including the restoration of fisheries and trails, and the reintroduction of wolves to the area.
More recently, a new pilot programme led by Subaru in Yosemite, Grand Teton and Denali promises to pursue zero-landfill alternatives and reduce waste. Building on the carmaker’s existing support for the Find Your Park initiative, the partnership could eliminate the need for wasteful disposal methods and improve the reduction, reuse, recycling and composting of waste. In a National Parks Conservation Association press release, Subaru of America’s President and COO Thomas Doll said: “We are delighted to be able to share Subaru’s expertise with our national parks. Subaru owners are passionate national park visitors and we are very pleased that we can make a positive contribution to a resource we all treasure.”
Provided Subaru’s influence doesn’t run too deep, the partnership could well prove that corporate sponsorship, done right, can have a positive effect on the NPS. For the time being at least, proposals to bring down the barriers to corporate sponsorship are merely in the pipeline, with supporters on the one side welcoming the financial pick-me-up and critics on the other concerned that corporate interference could compromise these landscapes.
It hardly seems fair that an agency as financially successful as the NPS should have to stomach interference from corporate parties. However, with the funding crisis fast approaching unmanageable extremes, it’s conceivable – if not probable – that commercialisation could have a bigger a part to play in the system’s future.
The National Park Service’s key sites
Yellowstone
At almost 3,500sq miles, Yellowstone is the country’s flagship national park, playing host to a multitude of natural wonders including geysers, lakes, canyons and mountain ranges. Yellowstone is of especial significance for the fact that it is widely held to be the world’s first national park, with its establishment dating back to the latter part of the 19th century.
Grand Canyon
One of the NPS’ most famous sites, more than 4.5 million people visit the Grand Canyon every year. The cavernous area stretches 277 river miles and, at its deepest, runs a mile down. The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979 in recognition of its vast national significance, with its Colorado River gorge also considered one of the world’s seven natural wonders.
Bryce Canyon
While not as lush as Yellowstone or Yosemite, Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon but a collection of natural amphitheatres. The area is best known for its red-orange-pink hoodoos, or spire-shaped rock formations, which were formed long ago – more precisely, 70 million years ago – by a combination of frost weathering and steam erosion.
Yosemite
At a lesser 1,200sq miles, Yosemite cannot quite match Yellowstone for size, yet what it lacks in size it makes up for in drama: its waterfalls, cliffs and giant sequoia trees are famed the world over for their majesty and beauty. The majority of visitors spend their time in Yosemite Valley only, but the surrounding mountains and forests are equally impressive.
The city also has one of the best golf scenes in Europe, with 21 courses dotted throughout the area. These courses can be enjoyed all year round, as Lisbon happens to have one of the best wintertime climates on the continent. In the evening, visitors can soak up Portugal’s outstanding gastronomy and nightlife scene, which is again often rated as one of the best in Europe.
The town’s reception infrastructure meets the requirements of all kinds of professional events. Three convention centres – the Casino Municipal, the Bellevue and the Gare du Midi – are located within walking distance of one another, while a recently built performance hall, the Halle Iraty, is perfect for larger events.
Looking back over the past three years, it is interesting to see how the cost of living compares across these popular countries, with Spain taking the lead in both 2016 and 2015.
