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.
CHALLENGES
Dealing with information overload. Trips abroad. Less salary. Short-time work. Lockdown. Regeneration time after COVID. Competition of the companies for the domestic guests. (June, 2020)
The first time in 9 years I have not traveled anywhere by plane, I actually spent a whole year '20 in Slovenia (which is not so bad, because Slovenia has really a lot to offer) (November, 2020)
Student
Slovenia
CONCERNS
I am currently concerned with the timeline. The hospitality and tourism industry will take some time to recover, but there are contrasting views on how quickly the industry will recover. Some have more bullish views and believe that once an "all-clear" is issued we will have an influx of discretionary income spending from "stir-crazy" individuals. Others have more bearish views and believe that the risk aversion associated with the Coronavirus will have a more prolonged effect even after an "all-clear" is issued. (April, 2020)
Student
United States
IDEAS
After all this is over I wish there could be some type of travel focused event that involves getting people together to share their COVID-19 experiences and stories so that we can not only return to normal but come out of it as a better people and society collectively. I'm hoping that this will help open peoples eyes about how we need to change as a society and just how far we have truly strayed from our humanity. (March, 2020)
Student
United States
I CAN OFFER
I am trying to help old people from our village to go to store for them and get them what they need or help them order things from online store beacause many of them dont know how to do it. (March, 2020)
Student
Slovenia
I NEED
Cheap credit with low or no participation of own money, funding for tourism developement, higher value of 'de minimis' for one company, more help from NTO to promote out destination. (May, 2020)
Tourism business representative
Slovenia
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
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
I would suggest that at the end of this current crisis, as many organizations come together and try to help one another. Maybe one at that moment has more financial resources, the other more employees and thus support each other, because that is the only way for the states, organizations ... to recover. (March, 2020)
