When we go on vacation for an exciting adventure, in addition to exploring the natural beauty or seeing the iconic sites and learning about the culture and history of the country, we believe it essential to the traveler experience to understand what is happening in the here and now. Including hot topics in your itineraries will take your guests on a deeper journey that when delivered well, will leave them connected to the people and the destination in a far more powerful way.
This article will cover: What is a hot topic. How and where to deliver them to bring a “wow” experience. And, finally, we’ll give you a specific example of a hot topic in India.
What exactly do we mean by a hot topic?
Headlines in the newspaper or social media threads and events that people are interested in talking about now and that are generating buzz or discussions in coffee shops or on the streets. These topics could be upcoming elections, social, cultural or political issues. Some specific examples of hot topics are:
o Le Front National in French politics; how it’s impacting the political and social scene
o Brexit; for, against and the potential break-up of the UK
o Immigration issues across Europe
A hot topic typically runs deep in a country’s culture, it can often be something that people may not be comfortable talking about due to shame or wish to avoid the subject in order to present the country purely in a positive light. Examples include:
o Palestinian land rights
o The Rohinga in Myanmar
o Women’s rights issues in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations
o The annexation of Crimea by Russia
o China and the Uighurs
Hot issues are often controversial as you’ll see from our India spotlight example below. The main point is if it is controversial, do not let the controversy stop you from presenting to your guests and generating meaningful discussion, aiding understanding of both sides of a thorny issue. Chances are that your guests have studied or heard about these issues anyway and want to know the real deal.
How and where to deliver Hot Topics to create a “wow” experience.
The key is to have trained Tour Leaders who understand all sides of the hot topic or issue and who are comfortable with presenting the facts. It’s not hard to imagine from the name itself that “hot issues” are controversial. However by presenting all sides of the argument, the Tour Leader will give your guests a well-rounded explanation of all points of view, and guests will have the opportunity to learn, interact and reflect.
Early in your program, require your Tour Leaders to ask your guests specifically what hot issues they are curious to explore. Or they can simply invite guests to write on a piece of paper anonymously a topic or issue that they are interested in exploring. The key is preparation. If the Tour Leader is not prepared with the facts or comfortable speaking on a topic then they shouldn’t.
A great Tour Leader, when trained properly, is prepared and comfortable to speak on hot topics of the day and will do so passionately. Train your Tour Leaders to talk about hot topics with passion and empathy through their tone of voice and most importantly, to prepare tools that are related to the topics such as photos, newspaper clippings, graphs or other visual aides to draw in the guests’ attention.
It’s essential to keep the presentation concise, truthful and factual to back up the explanations and to create excitement and meaningful dialogue. The Tour Leader must be armed with key facts to create an elevated learning opportunity. Engagement with travelers encourages questions and interaction to fuel discussion and can generate different opinions from the group in a respectful manner.
In addition to bringing the facts, encourage your Tour leaders to share their opinion on where he or she stands on the hot topic to make the issue more personal and to help to bring it to life. The Tour Leader’s passion and personal opinions often add humanity and insight into complicated topics and help to increase your overall program quality scores.
When possible, bring hot topics to life by looking for and taking advantage of opportunities for your guests to see or visit the places where they can see or experience the issues more directly; or meet the locals who have been impacted. For example, when talking about refugees in Greece, wait to have the discussion until you go to one of the islands most impacted by the crisis, e.g. Samos. Or when in Jerusalem, include a talk with an Israeli and/or a Palestinian to have more in-depth learning experience.
The following is a specific example of a hot topic your Tour Leaders can include in your India itineraries Acid Attacks on Women and how they can deliver the topic.
Sheroes Hangout Cafe, Agra India. Run by Acid Attack Survivors
Start by sharing some articles in the local newspapers on recent cases on acid attacks in rural India.
Include factual content by preparing statistics and information on what has happened:
The perpetrators in 84% of the cases are men who want to punish woman for ending a relationship or who refuse to have a romantic relationship. A local newspaper in Agra had mentioned through the interview that “If I can’t have you, no one can”. While other cases stem from jealousy and revenge from their own family members such as mothers-in-law.
India has one of the highest rates worldwide involving between 200- 300 reported cases annually. In addition perhaps 1,000 cases per year go unreported in India due to the fact that many victims feel shame or lack of data collection resources in many rural areas.
Acids are used as cleaning agents in India and are widely available plus inexpensive to purchase. Indian law recognized Acid Attacks as a crime in 2013 and required that stores register customer identification. However studies have found that the law is not being enforced and so the crimes have continued.
Most attackers aim is not to kill but to torture and disfigure the victims, by destroying the female’s appearance which can have devastating effects, both physically and psychologically
Cleaning agent acids can severely burn flesh in just 30 seconds and many of the victims are banished “behind the curtain” with severe physical and mental trauma; others continue to fight through the support of non-profit organizations and go through as many as 15-20 operations to reconstruct their faces.
Under Indian law, acid attackers will be imprisoned for a minimum of 10 years but in reality most attackers are not caught or the legal system moves slowly due to overburdened prosecutors or delays in investigation. In some cases it may take 10-15 years to go through trial; and even then the attackers could only be sentenced to a prison term of 2 to 5 years. For example, in 2018 there were 523 recorded cases with a 3% conviction rate. The extremely low conviction rate can also be attributed to the absence of a presumption of guilt section in the Indian Evidence Act; plus the time consuming judicial process and financial burdens which discourage victims from staying involved through the entire process.
Now there are several organizations and activists in India who are fighting back and creating jobs for victims such as Sheroes Hangout Café in Agra and Lucknow or Writers Café in Chennai. Some of their employees are restarting their lives post attack and working to overcome the shame they feel. I personally admire how strong they are. We hope that this situation will be solved in the very near future, perhaps with tighter controls on the sale of such chemicals plus enforcement.
The Tour Leader could wrap up a related discussion by letting guests know that if they are interested in meeting some of these courageous women and wish to learn more about their courageous lives, they’ll have the chance to visit them.
At North Star Travel Consulting, we offer comprehensive Tour Leaders trainings, including a section on how to deliver hot topics successfully. This will not only enrich your guests’ experiences and shine a light on key issues but will drive greater quality scores plus repeat business. Please contact us to discuss how we can help.
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