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.

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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Douro on my mind: Measuring & marketing value during the ‘value crisis’

February 7, 2023
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Douro Valley, Portugal by by Maksym Kaharlytskyi (CC0) via Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/5ZmAyIG_OrI Price / value scale by Tumisu (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/purchase-shopping-price-value-7307064/ Thought bubble by Clker-Free-Vector-Images (CC0) via Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/cloud-thinking-thought-bubble-304979/

Des­tin­a­tion mar­keters can exploit a gen­er­al per­ceived lack of value and trust to build affin­ity with pro­spect­ive vis­it­ors, accord­ing to K Michael Hay­wood.  In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Pro­fess­or Hay­wood describes the oppor­tun­ity for des­tin­a­tion mar­keters and the attend­ant chal­lenge for des­tin­a­tion man­agers. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.] It has been 20 years since […]

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