Following processes in tourism can be a real experience killer.

"Out to your left, that's Lake Wakatipu".

This was part of a lengthy spiel I got from my instructor when I paid for a recent experience in Queenstown.

He was obviously going through the motions.

As someone with an interest in tourism, I was keen to see where it went so I let him run with it.

Unfortunately, he didn't take any time to understand who his guest was, what they were interested in, where they were from... Anything.

As a result I got the duplicate experience that every other guest gets without varying off the path to create something unique.

Meeting visitor requirements is often a series of (boring) checklists enforced from the top down.

Tourism operations are full of processes that are created with the idea of making a business better.

The aim of these is generally to ensure compliance and rarely to do with helping the visitor have a better experience.

But improving the experience can be an enjoyable process that involves everyone from the bottom up.

The process of improving things end-to-end can be creative and not just a list.

That creativity comes from the people working the front line who need to be empowered to act on their ideas.

Small touch points as a guest moves between arriving, experiencing and leaving are great opportunities for creativity.

Not every step along the journey needs to be mind-blowing but a smart leader knows the key moments in their experience can have a disproportionate impact.

Great experiences aren't made from following a process.