by Jane Beattie
A journey is a person in itself, no two are alike, and all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggles that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
—John Steinbeck
Small ships such as the Clipper Adventurer operated by Quark Expeditions provide berths for 120 people, lectures led by experts in their subject areas, and the opportunity for an intimate experience on the great white continent. Photo by Jane Beattie.
Standing on the deck of a small cruise ship in the middle of the Drake Passage somewhere between Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands seemed like a strange place to be contemplating life—and interpretation. But there I was, no land to be seen for at least a day’s sail in any direction, ocean swells big enough to make the 11-foot wingspan of the wandering albatross flying nearby disappear like it was never there, and the anticipation of what was to come.
I was in the middle of my own once-in-a-lifetime experience and not a single adjective would stay in my mind long enough to stick, because the next one was tumbling out of my now over-stimulated brain faster than I could keep up with—and I wasn’t even in Antarctica yet!
Several people have asked why. Why Antarctica? Why a small ship? Why would I want to leave civilization and all of its modern conveniences behind to see more ice and snow? (I live in Alaska where it is winter for 7 months a year!) And why was I so bent on seeing penguins that I would want to spend four days crossing what is sometimes arguably the roughest stretch of ocean in the world? Those questions can be easily answered, but the more difficult question that I still struggle to put words to is, “What did it feel like to be in Antarctica?”
John Steinbeck summed it up well when he said, “We do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” This was most definitely the case for me. It was such an overwhelmingly emotional experience that I am not sure I will ever be able to put words to it for others.
But what it did do was give me pause to think about for-profit tourism operators and the interpretive experiences we provide, sometimes in places where no other options are available. Are we fully embracing interpretation? Can we and do we provide interpretive messaging throughout our operations that is compelling, provocative, and potentially life-changing? What other opportunities can we develop to support the visitor/guest experience and help the trip take them?
Whether hiking or on a land tour, the only way for many to access Denali National Park and Preserve is by bus. Driver naturalists versed in interpretation provide many opportunities for visitors to find their own meanings in the resource. Photo by Jane Beattie.
As tourism operators, we bring visitors to traditional interpretive sites to attend interpretive programs, peruse exhibits at visitor centers, and recreate. But in addition to that, many of us also stretch beyond the traditional in that we have facilities of our own. We are hotels, resorts, remote lodges, cruise ships, and bus tours to name a few. We operate or manage tour products, gift shops, food and beverage outlets, exhibit areas, rafting, and other adventure activities. That is, we have interpretive potential. I believe that not only does interpretation offer the for-profit tourism world a standard to provide meaningful products and messages to our guests, but also that we have the opportunity to provide interpretation with a mechanism to broaden its reach through unique and creative design of experiences across all levels of our operations.
Tourism operators who take guests looking for a unique experience to Antarctica give an easy stand-alone example of this. On a continent that does not per se have a managing agency or interpreters on the ground to provide an interface between the place and meanings, operators have filled that role by providing on-board naturalists who do interpretive programming and educational lectures, ensuring that guests take away more than just photos. They are the only interface between the visitor and the resource. A growing number of tour companies in this position provide specialist guides and more increasingly professionals who can provide more than just the facts by presenting a compelling interpretive message as well.
On a national scale, it is recognized that concessionaires interface with more visitors than park staff in a number of large parks, especially where mass transportation is used to provide a visitor experience. National parks such as Denali, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier provide market-driven interpretation to support and encourage stewardship of a park’s resources and mission to hundreds of thousands of park visitors each year. On a smaller scale, specific niche operators provide interpretive programming in a more intimate small-group setting—all the while aiming to connect the visitor to a place or event and supporting a larger mission.
With the advent of the Experience Economy, as described in Joseph Pine and James Gilmore’s 1999 book, for-profit businesses and tourism operations have found ways to be even more creative still with their products and services. Hotel, retail, and food and beverage operations at their most basic create a more themed experience supporting their location and its larger stories while a greater number now provide messaging to support the core interpretive themes, site significance, and mission of the parks and other public lands or organizations they operate on. Interpretive media and messaging is making its way into gift shop merchandising, onto table tops and walls in food areas, and into the design of common areas and rooms in hotels. Combining the skills of companies with the resources and ability to create unique experiences that impart an interpretive message with the organizations tasked with preserving and protecting nationally and globally valued resources has created a new evolution in non-traditional interpretation. The potential of this symbiotic relationship is one that is still being discovered but is intriguing to many.
It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention, and given the current economic, political, and global climate, it is perhaps time to become more inventive than ever. We need to use the skills, talents, and methodologies of interpretation to ride on the current wave of evolutionary growth in the field.
As a passenger on that cruise ship to Antarctica—not an interpreter, coach, or manager—the journey culminated in a dream realized, but that’s another story. I also came to believe that we as for-profit companies and businesses that operate in an interpretive arena have a rich opportunity to not only provide a journey to many, but have the journey take us. We, too, are becoming the messenger on a large scale, and while some are still in the curiosity stage on the interpretive continuum, others are proud to have reached the level of stewardship—not only for themselves but for their visitors and guests as well.
Jane Beattie is the director of interpretation for the Doyon/Aramark Joint Venture, the concessionaire in Denali National Park and Preserve. Jane is also the director of NAI’s Interpretation and Tourism Section. She can be reached at beattie-jane@aramark.com.
