HAMILTON, Bermuda -- The session that two travel agents attending last week's 12th annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism liked best had a long title: "Haven't Been There, Done That: How Experiential Tourism Is Transforming the Travel Experience."
That's a mouthful, for sure.
And the agents, B. Kelli Clarke with KC Travel Unlimited in Alexandria, Va., and Othree Burroughs of SunnySideUp Travel in Mountain House, Calif., weren't quite sure what it meant before the workshop began.
It became clear as soon as Judy Karwacki, founder and owner of Vancouver-based Small Planet Consulting, took to the stage in what turned out to be the liveliest session of the three-day conference.
"There is an evolution taking place: from mass tourism, with its packaged vacations and low levels of interaction with the local culture, to experiential tourism, which leaves people with memories for a lifetime," said Karwacki, a specialist in sustainable tourism development and founder of Jubilee Travel in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, now run by her sister.
"Experiential travelers seek extraordinary prestigious experiences, and they want bragging right to travel tales that captivate their friends and family," she said.
Karwacki provided examples of experiences that involve and affect travelers, such as visiting street markets in Waikiki, playing cricket in Jamaica and surfing with locals in Australia.
"Agents need to understand, anticipate and exceed the needs of the experiential traveler," she said. "Find out what motivates them."
Understanding a traveler's preferences and budget prior to a trip can help build a repeat client base, according to Karwacki.
And she warned her audience that while these travelers want "raw experiences by day, some may want the comfort of a nice hotel by night, while others will be happy in a hammock."
Both Clarke and Burroughs called the session "lively and informative."
"She gave us advice and information that we can transfer to our clients when they visit a region," Clarke said.
The conference "has opened our eyes to the whole sustainable issue," Burroughs said.
"We are conscious and protective of our environment at home," she said. "We recycle and reuse, and we should do the same when we travel and have more respect for the regions we visit."
STC-12 focused on the links between sustainable development and sustainable tourism, but conference leaders acknowledged that the current economic climate presents challenges.
CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley said that while the region's tourism sector faces a variety of threats, its people must lead the way in finding the right solutions.
"Threats to our industry, whether they manifest themselves in the form of natural disasters, such as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, or manmade phenomena like crime and terrorism or political creations such as the U.K.'s Air Passenger Duty, can certainly have the initial effect of creating disruption and confusion," Riley said.
He added that it was vital for the Caribbean not to stand by and become collateral damage, stressing that the Caribbean has contributed little to climate change.
"We are low carbon emitters. No one in his or her right mind could seriously be thinking that the Caribbean is a significant contributor to global warming," Riley said.
However, he warned that the region could suffer the consequences "if climate change and rising sea levels create conditions that would devastate our economies."
Sustainable tourism is all about "living well, protecting our future and preserving our assets," Riley said.