{"id":1540,"date":"2021-08-31T06:17:46","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T06:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/surprisingly-smart-data-for-cannabis-tourism\/"},"modified":"2021-08-31T06:17:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T06:17:46","slug":"surprisingly-smart-data-for-cannabis-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ultimatehealthreport.com\/surprisingly-smart-data-for-cannabis-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprisingly Smart Data for Cannabis Tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Lately, there\u2019s been quite a bit of \u2018buzz\u2019 about the notion of cannabis tourism and its potential impact on global tourism generally. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I have attended several webinars and information sessions over the past year or two directed at tour operators, restaurateurs, and innkeepers on how to prepare for and engage potential audiences. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

It appears that operating cannabis tourism space will never be easy. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Even if one thinks they may have the audience part figured out, operating such a business can be difficult to manage, and is dependent upon what region of the world one occupies. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Light up a joint in some parts of the world and we might never hear from you again\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prohibition of certain substances is not new. <\/p>\n

Alcohol was banned in the United States and Canada for a time and when it was reintroduced, slowly and clumsily in many instances, public consumption areas were created in many railroad hotels, catering to the needs of both the business and leisure segments.<\/p>\n

Could something similar be done for cannabis?\u00a0<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s environment, with vigorous anti-smoking bylaws enacted, prohibiting smoking and vaping indoors, it would seem unlikely.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Even at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, California, voted by Forbes<\/em> magazine in 2019 as the most cannabis-friendly hotel in the world, smoking in the rooms, on the balconies, or on the premises, is strictly prohibited. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Amsterdam remains one of very few places on Earth where public consumption of cannabis, with other human beings, in something other than under the bleachers at the high school football field, is tolerated.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Cannabis is not legal in Amsterdam, or in the Netherlands for that matter, however; gedoogbeleid<\/em>, the \u201cpolicy of tolerance\u201d, is \u2013 by legal statute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Due to the illegality of the product, businesses that trade in cannabis are not allowed to advertise what it is they sell.<\/p>\n

Henk de Vries, a living legend in Dutch culture, coined the term \u201ccoffeeshop\u201d as the descriptor for The Bulldog, the first legal cannabis vendor in Amsterdam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, other coffeeshops, including multiple locations of the Bulldog, operate in Amsterdam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If they serve coffee, or anything else besides cannabis and accessories, it is a coincidence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pro tip: If you want a coffee or a pastry, go to a caf\u00e9 \u2013 there are some good ones.<\/p>\n

The idea of cannabis tourism not new either.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I can remember hearing stories from friends in high school who ventured off to Morocco or the markets in Jerusalem looking for hashish dens.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The fact that The Bulldog exists in peoples\u2019 minds as a place to visit in Amsterdam also bears witness to this.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

With its hotels, social clubs, and merchandise, The Bulldog may be considered a global brand in the cannabis space.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Where do their patrons come from and when do they come? \u00a0 <\/p>\n

As new and re-emerging cannabis tourism businesses attempt to invigorate their businesses in a post-COVID-19 world, are there any insights we can learn?\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Here is where the world of cannabis intersects with the world of Big Data. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

LBS (Location Based Service) data involves millions of phones and billions of data points.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It requires purpose-built software to accumulate and analyze.<\/p>\n

As part of a research exercise, 10GATES Smart Data for Travel examined LBS data for a sample 2,000 cell phones that visited a geofence around The Bulldog the First<\/em> (the original location) in 2019. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The map in Figure 1 illustrates clearly that The Bulldog is known globally and attracts many international visitors, although the majority come from Western Europe and the U.K.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

This location gets 34.6% of its visitors from the Netherlands.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Notably blank areas of the map include most of Africa, Asia, and smaller countries in South America.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Drilling down into Figure 2, we see that, of the phones with LBS activated, 2\/3 of the visitors (66.7%) were from Amsterdam itself, confirming that its primary business at this location is driven by local activity. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Other cities factoring high in the standings were Berlin (6.1%), Barcelona (5.6%), and Paris (4.5%). \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Rome, Brussels, Munich, and Koln make up the rest of the top 10 from Europe at around 2% each.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The US is represented in the top 10 at both coasts \u2013 NYC at 3% and L.A. at 2%.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n