Sip & Learn:"The Visitor Effect: How Hosting Changes the Way We See Home"

When we think of tourism, we often picture hotels, cruise ships, and bucket-list adventures. But a large portion of travel experiences happen in our own homes and spare rooms.The desire and opportunity to visit friends and relatives who live elsewhere are significant drivers of travel, yet this type of tourism is often downplayed and misunderstood by the industry, communities, and even by hosts and guests themselves.The role we, as residents, play in attracting and guiding visitors around our communities has a big impact on the places we live in.Hosting our friends and relatives also affects our personal relationships and how we view the places we live in as we explain and interpret our communities, and look for meaningful, enjoyable, and novel experiences to share.In this lecture, Professor Tom Griffin will flip our perspectives of tourism and look at hosts, in particular:

• Why do we (sometimes) want people to visit us?
• What happens when we become guides of our own communities and lives?
• How does it affect our identities and relationships with guests?
• And how does this impact our communities as places to live in, to visit, and to operate businesses and events?

Tom Griffin is an Associate Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. His research focuses on the visitor economy, with a particular interest in how visiting friends and relatives shapes individuals, main streets, local businesses, and neighbourhood communities. He has also contributed chapters to VFR-related books, including VFR Travel Research: International Perspectives.

Agenda

6:00 PM doors open. Guests are welcome to arrive early, order drinks, and have dinner before the lecture begins.

7:00 PM lecture begins, followed by Q&A.

8:15 PM wrap up. Guests are welcome to stay for conversation and another drink.