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.
CONCERNS
The struggle many face either because they become so dependent on travelling (for ex. bloggers, vlogers etc) or because of it (people in small places that have no other means to survive, or have forgotten the struggles of life because tourism was the easiest thing to do).
The idea that nothing will be the same "easy" as before.. The idea of adapting, inovation...the idea of not knowing what will happen. (April, 2020)
Tourist
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
To me tourism is a big part about a globalized world since it means we can can get out of our usual envirnoment and see something we dont usually see. It is a nice distraction from the normal, boring everyday life and a chance to experience something out of the ordinary. The feeling you get when you finally reach the date of your flight, the excitement rushing through the veins when you board the airplane and then the relief when you finally land in your desired destination, is incredible. Suddenly you are in a whole diffrent world, a whole diffrent culture. It is very important to me, that we are able to see the whole planet that we are living on and experience all the different cultures and vibes that people from other parts of the world give you. (December, 2020)
Student
Austria
CHALLENGES
[Professor] To prepare my students for a post-COVID-19 world. (May, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Germany
CONCERNS
The biggest concern is that current situation continues for "too" long. It could bring fear of travel - even if short term (6-10 months) it a big hit for our industry and this could mean a big shifts. But even though this could be bad for people working in tourism it could also bring inovation and good improvment. (April, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
IDEAS
Gov'ts will be facing budget deficits in coming years and tourism programs may be impacted. Right now tour operators are emerging across the circumpolar world. They are often competing against larger, more established operators from the outside. I think it's important to look at eligibility requirements for gov't funding, and that regional funding be directed towards Arctic-based operators, as they are the smallest and most vulnerable. This is not the case in all circumpolar jurisdictions. We should use scarce public resources to support local tourism industries. (April, 2020)
Tourism business representative
Canada
I CAN OFFER
From co-creating new stories, writing them down, connecting the partners, implementing ideas into the practice, organizing activities, discussing with media, public presentations and networking. (March, 2020)
Tourism business representative
Slovenia
I NEED
Some resources I may need are contacts and a good platform to build upon if I wanted to put my ideas to practice. I don't know if a preexisting site would be best or something new, so I would need guidance from a lot of people! (April, 2020)
Student
United States
SOLUTIONS
Not specifically, but it's crucial to use the right psychological procedures (right words, slogans, music, messages) in marketing purposes. The goal of that would be managing crowds of people (tourists) in order to diminish their anxiety, fear of other people and travelling around. (April, 2020)
Student
Slovenia
EXPLOITATION
The media partly exploit the situation of the pandemic to get attention and generate sales. However, the media is not aware, or perhaps unfortunately they are - even sadder that this hype in the media - can make the population sick. (October, 2020)
Student
Austria
OTHER / SPOTTED
Allow free travel insurance, people are afraid to book because they feel the risk to have their trip cancelled. (April, 2020)
