Theory: (Digital) Social Skills

4.4. Stakeholders Relationship Management

As we have already pointed out, in addition to being able to communicate and engage effectively with your customers, as a tourism professional you must be able to collaborate with other actors in your ecosystem.

Think, for example, of service providers for your accommodation, suppliers of raw materials for your traditional food restaurant or a potential partner with whom you want to collaborate to offer new leisure activities in the region.

Well, in this case, both soft skills and methodological skills will be key in your management of professional relationships with others, both online and offline.

In your relationship with stakeholders/collaborators you will also have to take into account:

●     Your online presence - communicating your message and objectives will be key when networking online and contacting potential collaborators in the online environment.

●     Conflicts can also arise in B2B relationships with other professionals, so being able to apply communication skills such as active listening will help you to resolve the situation.

●     Just as you can measure your customers' satisfaction with your offer, it would also be interesting to apply methodologies to measure stakeholders' satisfaction with your collaboration, in order to identify strengths and areas for improvement.

In any case, to learn more about how and why to collaborate with other actors and how to network effectively, we recommend that you take advantage of the contents of Module 11 of the DIGITOUR training programme.