TOURISM MEANS

For me tourism is about: exploring new cultures and places; Learning to see the world through new perspectives; getting away from it all; life-long memories; meeting new people; relaxing, speaking other languages, happy times with family and friends. (May, 2020)

Researcher, academic

France

CHALLENGES

The biggest challenge that the crisis brings with it is the economic aspect. Due to the almost global shutdown of the economy, it is not yet certain how bad the economy will be in the future. Tourism has been hit pretty hard, especially in Tyrol, and will therefore have a heavy loss in occupancy and reservations. How bad it actually gets is still unclear. (June, 2020)

Student

Austria

CONCERNS

My biggest concern is being able to find a job during this time of crisis due to the economy being in a recession. Across the globe hospitality companies are laying off employees and are in a hiring freeze. Due to this the possibility of me finding a job right now is very low. I am very nervous about this uncertain future and I am concerned that I may not find a job for a long time. (April, 2020)

Tourism employee

United States

IDEAS

In one of the President's COVID-19 Press Conferences, Trump had thrown around the idea of businesses being able to fully deduct dining and food expenses. I believe this could be an interesting idea to pursue. Currently, dining and food expenses incurred by businesses can be deducted by 50% as long as they meet certain requirements (cannot be overly extravagant, etc.). If this deductible percentage was increased, it could help to jump start the recovery of the hospitality and tourism industry by incentivizing business meals and group business. A similar case can be made for travel expenses.

Of course, there are ethical implications associated with potential to abuse the system which will need to be weighed. I recommend the spending must meet the current deduction requirements or possibly impose a spending ceiling.

Resources:

https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2020/jan/business-meal-expense-deduction-tcja.html

https://markjkohler.com/writing-off-dining-and-food-expenses/ (April, 2020)

Student

United States

I CAN OFFER

Relationships with Japanese art-tourism practitioners.

Networking to Japanese service researchers.

Collaborative (virtual/ real) place with industrial association people. (June, 2020)

Researcher, academic

Japan

I NEED

Surveys, how to apply sustainability in a ski resort. (April, 2020)

Local resident

Italy

SOLUTIONS

Rather than always relying on trustful recources and trying to keep cool in such times I don’t have more solutions to offer. Life is always a tough place and I admire all the people who still try their best in those times. I think everyone of us should try to make the best of their lifes whether circumstances are good or bad. Only this way, we can move forward. (October, 2020)

Student

Austria

EXPLOITATION

Lots of people lose their jobs do to this crisis. Employees have to get rid of a lot of job places because they need to safe money and the people who are still working for this company get less paid than before. Lots of employees in Austria exploited the "Kurzarbeit" because they got money from the government but the workers in this company still worked the same amount of hours than before, but they got less income. (October, 2020)

Student

Austria

OTHER / SPOTTED

Impact of COVID-19 on Travel: Foreign Travel Industry Needs an Immediate Rescue Plan:

This article is based on India's data but it could be translated to all the other countries in the world affected by coronavirus, because it is hitting the tourism sector the same way everywhere.

First it states that globally there is already an economic recession due to the fact that more than one-third of the global population is under restrictions. One of the worst-hit sectors is the tourism travel industry, not only by the evidence of the quarantine but also the cancellation of all the international flights. Currency exchange market depends a lot on travelling so it will drop off incredibly.

During the last years tourism was unstoppably growing in India but now this sector will have just to fight for survival, because even if quarantine ends and people go back to their jobs, travelling will probably still be restricted. He is also stating that in many countries the governments already started up plans for saving the tourism sector but India is not one of them, and should start working on that.

He gives four possible solutions to it: Cancel or postpone the proposed TCS on foreign travel that was introduced in the Finance Bill (2020), One-year GST Relief, Exclusive Fund Allocation for the Tourism Sector, Interest-free Credit Facilities for the Travel Sector.

See the original file here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/348757 (April, 2020)

Student

Spain