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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::
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.
Being a senior in college, the most common challenges I see during this time are students having a lot of trouble in the job search, and are also having difficulties adhering to social distancing orders and wanting to hangout with college friends in small groups. This may seem harmless but can cause huge unintended consequences with spreading the virus. I am also challenged by what my future is going to look like with a lockdown order extending past my original job start date as well as my lease move in date. (April, 2020)
Freedom, openness, tolerance, globalization, (May, 2020)
Apart from disrupting tourism activity, it has also disrupted our research activities (i.e. we are conducing bi-annual national survey of visitor motivations, activities, satisfaction and expenditure that was launched just before the C19 lockdown), it has a bearing on our consultancy services with contracts suspended, delayed and tasks redrafted, as well as on slowing down implementation of EU projects. (May, 2020)
(1) People’s values/view to tourism services after COVID-19 including how technologies can support tourism sectors in terms of social interaction. (2) The utilization of seniors’ participation to tourism services as a service provider. (April, 2020)
We must strive to create a new tourism - a more sustainable one. This will have to be developed in the coming months. (September, 2020)
Organization of private tours, where we follow all health&safety recommendations. Hotel reservation, travel recommendations, organization of "self drive" tour. (July, 2020)
Stay in touch with other researchers, especially as we move out of this. (April, 2020)
I am from a small town in Virginia/Tennessee and one of my favorite restaurants has impressed the community throughout this pandemic. They are an upscale restaurant offering foods from sushi and stir fry to burgers and tacos. Tuesday nights are half price sushi nights- the community's favorite. While the dining area has been closed, they are still offering their deals on their respective nights. By offering their special on delivery and to-go orders, they received as much business as a normal day. To my benefit, once they were overwhelmed with the number of orders in the afternoon, they honored the deal prices the next day to those they couldn't accommodate on Tuesday. They even offered their Tuesday deal on Sundays, as they saw the huge success of it. They have even began to sell gallons of beer and margaritas, pints and quarts of their soups, etc. Things that they don't normally do. The greatest help to the community has been the restaurants ability to buy things such as toilet paper, paper towels, sugar, flour, etc. in bulk and sell at a breakeven price to customers. These are things that are sold out in grocery stores and are in high demand. They are able to take advantage of their suppliers and help get the community what they need, even without the desire to make a profit off of it. I know that there are many customers and community members that are impressed with the way the restaurant is handling this crisis and are thankful for their efforts! (March, 2020)
Global airlines and hotels holding back payments or only providing credits to customers, yet laying people off, and seeking bailouts. (April, 2020)
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. 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. Article gives four possible solutions: 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)