BYUH students travel to New Mexico to learn how authentic marketing and cultural identity help destinations thrive in a competitive tourism industry
Every year, hundreds of hot air balloons fill the skies over New Mexico during the world’s largest hot air balloon festival. The festival is one of several events the state uses to attract visitors. From Oct. 6 to Oct. 11, BYU–Hawaii Hospitality & Tourism Management students traveled through New Mexico to learn how its Department of Tourism draws millions of tourists and earns high-profile industry awards, even though New Mexico has fewer nationally recognized attractions than its neighboring states. On the trip, students said they met with leaders in New Mexico’s tourism industry and saw how to apply the lessons they’ve learned in the classroom.
Jeff Christensen, director of the Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management, said New Mexico offers valuable lessons in tourism. “There are a lot of commonalities between New Mexico and Hawaii, even though it may not seem like it,” he said. Both states work to preserve and share their Indigenous cultures and languages, draw on distinctive local food traditions as part of their identity, and face the challenge of showing travelers what makes them different from the places around them. Despite this, New Mexico manages to have an award-winning tourism industry.
For the students, this trip helped them to see how their studies can be applied in the real world. Htet Wai, a hospitality and tourism management student from Myanmar, said the highlight was meeting with the New Mexico Tourism Department. “Everything you learn in class, they’re using in real life,” Wai said. She was especially impressed by the department’s marketing approach that gives consumers an honest depiction of what they can expect. Wai hopes to bring those same lessons to Myanmar. “I want to help my home country be like New Mexico,” Wai continued. “I want to advertise to the world the places we have that tourists would love.”
Mana Takahashi, a hospitality and tourism student from Saitama, Japan, also noted what she could apply in her future career. Her hometown is just north of Tokyo, but doesn’t have the same tourist appeal. Even though she didn’t expect to be impressed by New Mexico, her mind was quickly changed. “New Mexico is right next to Utah, Arizona, and Colorado, all states with cool nature,” Takahashi said. “But they found what makes them different and built their identity around it.” Takahashi continued in saying that she now sees a path for Saitama.
Learning from a place like New Mexico will help me market my hometown in the future.
Maravu said. “The way a destination markets itself creates expectations, and the actual experience influences what visitors remember.” Maravu elaborated on how she is currently enrolled in a class that focuses on optimizing guest experiences, and she said the class became so much more applicable in her mind. “Learning in class is good, but going out and experiencing it is what makes it click,” she said. Maravu hopes other students will take advantage of these opportunities because they help to enhance learning in the classroom.
Marco Ercoli, a hospitality and tourism minor, observed the classes from a different lens. The state’s distinct identity stood out to him the most. “Every time we met with someone,” he said, “they talked about two main things: communication and authenticity.”
“They said AI can help with some information,” Ercoli continued, “but in the real world, in photos and videos and in customer experiences, you cannot use AI. The human touch is the most important.”
Wai made a similar point when she mentioned that it is tempting for tourism businesses to use AI to exaggerate what their destinations have to offer. “You cannot do that,” she said. “People will find out whether it’s true or not when they visit. You have to give people what you have and be authentic.”
Christensen believes New Mexico’s work with Native communities contributes to the state’s authenticity and offers an important lesson for Pacific island nations. He pointed to Hawaii’s rapid tourism expansion in the 1960s, which placed pressure on local communities, as a reminder of why local voices should be part of tourism development. That lesson is currently being applied in Pacific island nations like Kiribati, where recent BYU–Hawaii HTM graduates are leading regenerative tourism development in their home country.
Christensen said experiential learning is essential to preparing students for careers in high-end hospitality. Staying at an upscale hotel or dining at a fine restaurant helps them understand the experience from the guest’s point of view. "Seeing it firsthand, you experience, and suddenly the light bulb goes on," he said. "It changes how students approach their own roles as employees."
The students all expressed a desire for their classmates to take advantage of these opportunities. also encouraged their classmates to take advantage of these opportunities. Maravu believes that this opportunity brought a whole new level to her education. “Sometimes we learn the most by listening to people and observing how things work,” she said. “This trip reminded me that learning doesn’t only happen in the classroom.”
For these students, this trip offered them valuable insights into how they can apply what they’ve learned in the classroom. As Ercoli put it, “When you actually travel there and see that it works, it gives you more courage to do what you can to elevate your country when you go home.”