The 2020 pandemic and previous years’ overtourism issues showed us both the benefits, the relevance, and the limits of the tourism, hospitality and leisure industries for society. We cannot foresee the future, but we can listen to challenges and start developing solutions.
So far we have received more than 900 responses in which these questions have been discussed::
How should we IMAGINE tourism now that we have an opportunity to reset the way we do business?
Which CHANGES would you like to see? If any?
What are your CHALLENGES and CONCERNS?
What are your IDEAS and SOLUTIONS to make it through the pandemic AND into a sustainable and innovative future of tourism?
In the name of the global tourism family, many thanks to every single one of you for the inspiring feedback. Your replies are summarized in the sections below.
Don't forget to share YOUR insights (for the first time or again, with new observations):
The 10 quotes below are updated every few minutes and elephant word-clouds are recalculated regularly based on your new survey entries. You have to refresh the page or revisit us every so often to see the changed content.
I NEED
Government help, compensation for cancelled events, financial support for digital transformation. (April, 2020)
Tourism or convention office, event organizer
Slovenia
Explore #TourismFromZero perspectives
Different perspectives on the selected topic: ALL
Tourism business representative
Bosnia Herzegovina
Tourist
Singapore
Tourism business representative
Slovakia
#From Instagram
TOURISM MEANS
I can't describe tourism just with one word, for me its very complex and not all about a business sector. As I'm from Austria, I know that tourism is one of the biggest player in our country and we couldn't live this comfortable life without all the tourists that are visiting us during the year. But at the same time I'm a tourist as well, when I visit other countries or cities, so I can see both sites and think in a world like this we all know both sites and we barely think about the consequences we cause, by traveling this much and "fast". To cut a long story short, tourism means freedom to me but in the same way it can stress me out, as I'm living in Vienna with a lot of ignorance tourists all day long. (October, 2020)
Student
Austria
CHALLENGES
As an inbound adventure tour operator, the ban on international challenge presented the most immediate challenge with booking cancellations and postponements. Now, as we prepare to relax lockdown restrictions, the challenge is to provide travel experiences that enable guests to travel with us safely and to ensure the continued safety of the communities we visit. (May, 2020)
Tourism business representative
United Kingdom
CONCERNS
How will I sustain my life in the future? Global crisis will affect us all on the long term, but especially young generations will have to provide some solutions and different approaches in a matter of business. (April, 2020)
Student
Slovenia
IDEAS
I want hotel companies such as Wyndham, Hilton, and Marriott to start implementing their brand standard cleaning techniques for this virus (maybe even an industry-standard if feasible). The procedure for cleaning guest rooms may have to change. Rather than going with the current method of cleaning one room at a time, It would be feasible first to remove dirty linens and trash from all dirty rooms first. After housekeepers should wipe all surfaces with disinfectant chemicals and then move onto the bathroom to disinfect all areas (including the shower). Rigorous cleaning techniques need to be in place now, more significant than ever before. Housekeepers should then wash their hands accordingly before touching the clean linen and placing them in the guest rooms. I believe employees should have gloves and a face mask at all times. A more extreme but cautious requirement would be for employees to wash their hands every hour on the clock, whether they just washed their hands or not, a fixed element. (March, 2020)
Tourism business representative
United States
I CAN OFFER
I am availible if people want to talk - wheter they have troubles accepting these new situation. (March, 2020)
Student
Slovenia
I NEED
For tourist right now there is only the option to dream of future trips and looking back at past ones. Many destinations around the world already offer digital content to facilitate this. In the future it will be important to receive information about the immunity of the population and I am sure that less crowded destinations will be more popular in the short run. (April, 2020)
Tourist
Germany
SOLUTIONS
Given that the country is closed and that people are scared, I don’t see many solutions, and I don’t have good practice yet. I went back to the time when I founded the company. I make reservations for hotels for the citizens of Slovenia, which received a tourist voucher from the state. At the moment, this is the only way I pay all the costs of the company. (July, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
EXPLOITATION
Some companies, especially in the medical and hygiene sector, have certainly been able to use the pandemic to their advantage. (October, 2020)
Student
Austria
OTHER / SPOTTED
I really like the idea. But I am afraid the world is too greedy to make any honest changes in any other direction than making money/profit. (May, 2020)
