Welcome to

PLANET HAPPINESS

A Non-Profit Measuring the Happiness of Residents Living in World Heritage Sites

Tourism is a Vehicle for Development

How do we Engage Host Communities to Strengthen their Happiness & Wellbeing ?

Why Planet Happiness ?• Founded in Aug 2018, Planet

Happiness is focused on two Issues:

1. Growing concerns with over-tourism

2. Growing interest in Happiness & Well-being

What does Planet Happiness do ?• Planet Happiness partners with local

organisations to:

• Deploy a state of the art Happiness Index survey to measure the happiness of residents in World Heritage sites (15mins to complete on-line, available in 21 languages and growing)

• Produce score-cards to contrast and measure the collective well-being of destination communities over time

• Identify the strengths and deficiencies of community well-being

The 11 Domains of Happiness – what is measured? • Based upon Bhutan’s model of Gross National Happiness (GNH), the

domains measure satisfaction with:

oCommunityoEnvironment oLife-long learning, arts & cultureoPsychological wellbeingoGovernmentoHealthoStandard of living - economyoSocial supportoTime balanceoSatisfaction with lifeoWork

Note: Domains in red indicate two additional domains not measured among Bhutan’s 9 GNH domains

Labuan, Bali

132 people finished the Survey in Bali.

A score between 80-100 is very happy.

A score between 60-80 is happy.A score between 40-80 is

neutral.

Overall, for the 132 people who completed the Happiness Index from Labuan, Happiness Index

scores are higher.

Areas with high scores can be areas for building on strengths.

Areas with low score can be areas for addressing potential

or actual problems.

One-Page Score Cards Engage Host Communities & wider Stakeholders in Conversations about Happiness

For the 132 who took the survey in Bali, scores are

high in Psychological Well-being Environment, and

Satisfaction with Life.

Scores are lowest in Lifelong Learning, Time Balance, and

community.

Scores may be used to explore how to increase low domains through activities in

domains where scores are high.

100 is the highest possible.

Results are Stacked from Low to High to Discuss what Interventions are needed to Strengthen Destination Happiness & Well-being

What is done with the Survey Results??• Happiness scores and results cards are used as

a bridge for dialogue between local communities, government & private sector

• Work together to develop tourism responsibly by supporting actions to strengthen the collective well-being of destination communities

• Share learnings between sites - discuss results, implications & solutions through media strategies, webinars & regional conferences

• Create ranking profiles to showcase the happiest destinations & report why they’re the happiest !

Rich Data Enables Comparisons between Sites Contrasting Results Across all or Selected Domains

Why World Heritage Sites ?• How do you determine the boundaries of a destination?

• Need to focus upon something – can’t embrace all destinations, too unwieldy – need a narrative

• There are 1,121 WH sites around the world (869 cultural, 213 natural, 39 mixed), many suffer from over-visitation

• Impact discussions – what are we trying to protect, what’s the role of WH sites in global sustainability ?

• Fascinating to compare cultural differences and responses to questions about tourism, happiness and the World Heritage - all have a role in local, national & global sustainability !

Deploying the Metric…..• Planet Happiness is partnering with: • DMOs – interested to demonstrate their hosts are happy and welcoming !

• University Departments – interested to research & report on survey results

• Corporates – interested to demonstrate that the wellbeing of host communities is positioned at the core of their business strategy

• Metric available on line – create url’s for each destination

• Reach out to tourism industry associations, Chambers of Commerce, NGOs, clubs, civil society groups, schools, youth groups……

• Distribute through press releases, media strategies (Facebook, news media, Twitter, email)

• Once 200 surveys complete Planet Happiness will position destination score-cards on our website

Hội An,Vietnam

Hội An, VietnamPartnering with local NGO &

university

Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang, LaosPartnering with local business

& NGO

Sagarmatha, Nepal

Sagarmatha, NepalPartnering with local trust, national park and

tourism board

Phyu Ancient Cities, Myanmar

Phyu Ancient Cities, MyanmarPartnering with university

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, TurkeyPartnering with university

Ilha, Mozambique

Awan, EgyptPartnering with local university and

tourism department

Cultural Landscapes of Bali, Indonesia

Cultural Landscapes of Bali, IndonesiaPartnering with local tourism institute

Aswan,Egypt

Ilha, MozambiquePartnering with local college

Sukhothai, Thailand

Sukhothai, ThailandPartnering with tourism administration

Ironbridge, UK

Ironbridge, UKPartnering with local university & trust

Netherlands

NetherlandsPartnering with local university

Dialogue underway with partners and sites in:• Austria• Australia• Bhutan • China • Indonesia • Lao PDR• the Netherlands • Mozambique• Myanmar • Nepal • the Republic of Korea • Spain • Thailand • Turkey• Vietnam ….and we’ve only just started…….

Where are we……..?

First Government Partner

Dialogue underway with the

Global Happiness Council

Among other developments, Planet Happiness:• Is an invited participant of the Global Dialogues on

Happiness at the Dubai World Government Summits;

Partnership Agreements Signed

Planet Happiness

www.OurHeritageOurHappiness.org

Email Paul Rogers – Co-Founder & Director – paul@happycounts.org