TOURISM MEANS

Tourism for me means to travel and see new places in the first place. Whether I’m only visiting a nice village or a city in Austria for a couple of days or take a trip around the world for a longer time, tourism is a way to explore. The other big part of tourism is to get to know new people, new cultures and explore different styles of living. Since I myself am a huge fan of travelling and experience as much as possible, tourism is a key thing in my life and hopefully will never get lost in those times. (October, 2020)

Student

Austria

CHALLENGES

After COVID-19, we will face challenges in rebuilding trust within our markets that it will be safe to travel again. There might also come other travel trends that do not pay our region the attention. Companies will be economically weaker and might not be able to develop their service and competence, and we might loose the momentum we had where companies were eager to work with sustainability. Many companies might drop prices and stop caring about which clients they get, as long as they get clients. This can be challenging for the general quality level of tourism business in our region. Higher unemployment can lead to emigration from our region, with the result that it will be challenging for the local places to attract new people and for companies to find the right competence. There might be less willingness to contribute to development and marketing of tourism from the public government's side, as they might loose faith in tourism. (May, 2020)

Tourism or convention office, event organizer

Norway

CONCERNS

A new wave of infections, new restrictions on movement and travel. I'm worried about the collapse of the agency, the loss of the job. (August, 2020)

Tourism employee

Slovenia

IDEAS

All my writing at the moment is exploring how we respond. This was my previous article: https://news.wtm.com/a-future-template-for-resilience-how-we-can-repurpose-tourism-and-champion-local-areas/

My next one, published later this week, looks at how we maintain solidarity during the challenging times ahead. It will also be on WTM's website. (April, 2020)

Inventor, consultant

France

I CAN OFFER

Resources that each of us can contribute is humanity. It is important that even in such difficult times as these, no one forgets about the other. And because I am still quite young and fit, I can try to help others who are not doing so well as much as possible with all the possibilities I have. (December, 2020)

Student

Austria

I NEED

More measures by the state to encourage and support tourism activity. (July, 2020)

Tourism employee

Slovenia

SOLUTIONS

Review how a fine dining restaurant rely on their sense of quality and care to give confidence e.g. Aimsir 2 Michelan Star Restaurant www.aimsir.ie (May, 2020)

Researcher, academic

Ireland {Republic}

EXPLOITATION

Assistance with tourist vouchers only to accommodation facility. Travel agencies were largely excluded because hoteliers do not confirm shared reservations. (July, 2020)

Tourism employee

Slovenia

OTHER / SPOTTED

I think that the fact tourism is highly affected is not that big of the problem. Yes it’s true that people won’t travel during the epidemic, but when everything is over, people will travel again, they won’t just stop. Maybe this is a great chance for everybody to see how much we all can do to help restore Earth, not just in tourism, but in the whole industry sector. (March, 2020)

Student

Slovenia