K Michael Haywood

Prof K Michael Haywood

Prof K Michael Haywood

K Michael Hay­wood is Pro­fess­or Emer­it­us, School of Hos­pit­al­ity, Food and Tour­ism at the Uni­ver­sity of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“As a former pro­fess­or and con­sult­ant to the hos­pit­al­ity and tour­ism indus­tries, I now host the Des­tin­a­tions-in-Action blog on substack from my Tour­ism Studio.”

Michael has also writ­ten for The “GT” Travel Blog.

Also find him on Linked­In.

Totally awesome: Destinations’ urgent need to rediscover the ‘totality of awe’

May 22, 2024

Millions flock to the best locations to be awed by the total eclipse of the sun. Image by Sima Ghaffarzadeh (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/solar-eclipse-child-sun-kid-2689087/ GT cropped it and added "Awe ..."

A col­lect­ive sense of small­ness, con­nec­ted­ness, and awe eli­cited by the April 8 sol­ar eclipse reminded K Michael Hay­wood of the poten­tial that des­tin­a­tions have to inspire awe; from the authen­t­ic every­day that host com­munit­ies may take for gran­ted, to the loc­al effects of lar­ger forces that none of us can afford to ignore. It’s […]

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Prolonging anticipatory happiness: How can destinations exceed expectations?

February 22, 2024

Prolonging anticipatory happiness: How can destinations exceed expectations? Packed and ready. Pic by Arnel Hasanovic (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/clothing-items-and-pair-of-shoes-in-luggage-Nl-SXO4FAHw "GT" added the words.

The abil­ity to deliv­er on or exceed expect­a­tions determ­ines wheth­er your des­tin­a­tion will cap­ture a repeat vis­it­or and/or their pos­it­ive word-of-mouth … or a much more vir­al neg­at­ive sen­ti­ment.  In his unique and inim­it­able style, K Michael Hay­wood explores the theme and advoc­ates for the twin approach of com­munit­ies-as-des­t­in­a­­tions and des­tin­a­tions-in-action.  “New friends and new […]

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Souvenirs: Our sensorial selves, memories of the future

November 2, 2023

Souvenirs from Portugal base image by Sunguk Kim (CC0) via Unsplash. "GT" added the words "Memories in future tense". https://unsplash.com/photos/assorted-color-toy-lot-WksmEy5wV1s

What do souven­irs mean to you?  What do they say about the people who col­lect them and the places souven­irs pur­port to rep­res­ent; then, now, and in the future?  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight by K Michael Hay­wood. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.) Souven­irs Hav­ing returned from a month in Por­tugal my head, while […]

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Who can be a successful leader of a highly effective tourism association in 2023?

August 8, 2023

What makes a successful leader of a highly effective tourism association in 2023? Smiley and frownies by Magic Creative (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/smiley-emoji-emote-symbol-emoticon-1041796/

Lead­er­ship has nev­er been more chal­len­ging, accord­ing to K Michael Hay­wood.  Who can respond to mul­tiple (real and ima­gined) crises, bal­ance com­pet­ing stake­hold­er demands with­in a coher­ent vis­ion, and main­tain one’s own men­tal health while attend­ing to the feel­ings of oth­ers?  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.) In the […]

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Souvenirs: Can three pieces of coral inspire tourism towards ocean regeneration?

July 4, 2023

Can travel & tourism contribute to ocean regeneration? Image by Vlad Tchompalov (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/ZEpxoNzKfcc

Three pieces of cor­al, and the memor­ies they evoke, inspire K Michael Hay­wood to con­sider how travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers might con­trib­ute to ocean regen­er­a­tion.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] Every souven­ir deserves a val­ued space in our homes. As gathered from the beach in Sao Mar­tinho do Porto, […]

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What ‘good tourism’ needs: Listening, learning, leading

March 28, 2023

What's 'good tourism'? Image by FLY:D (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/@flyd2069

K Michael Hay­wood won­ders what the sub­ject­ive notion of ‘good tour­ism’ is, or could be, and how it might be achieved.  The ‘good’ in ‘good tour­ism’ rep­res­ents the search for that which is desir­able and deserving of esteem and respect. It sug­gests that tour­ism activ­it­ies be appro­pri­ate with­in future-ready soci­et­al, loc­a­tion­al, cul­tur­al, and oper­a­tion­al contexts. […]

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