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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.
As an inbound adventure tour operator, the ban on international challenge presented the most immediate challenge with booking cancellations and postponements. Now, as we prepare to relax lockdown restrictions, the challenge is to provide travel experiences that enable guests to travel with us safely and to ensure the continued safety of the communities we visit. (May, 2020)
Not essential for survival, but essential for life. (July, 2020)
It will be impossible to keep the distance in airplanes, airports and trains, so many people will for a while not use these transport modes because they are afraid. People who do, risk at spreading the virus. (May, 2020)
I personally am very afraid of a second wave. I hope that the measures were not relaxed too soon. Because politicians have given away quite a few financial packages in the past, but these almost only help large companies, I fear that many small businesses will not be able to reopen their businesses. (June, 2020)
Covid-19 should be used as a reset for the travel industry and an opportunity to grow new destinations. Over the past 10 years, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Iceland have been drowned in tourists to the point of the visitors having detrimental impacts to many historic or natural sites. A lot of this travel is motivated by viral photos on social media and influencers travelling to these destinations. Unfortunately, many beautiful and culturally rich countries aren't given this kind of attention and are completely ignored by tourists. A few that would fit into this category are Sao Tome & Principe, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Tajikistan, Mauritania, Iran, Chad, Djibouti, and the Central African Republic. (April, 2020)
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)
More measures by the state to encourage and support tourism activity. (July, 2020)
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)
Travel companies not allowing for partial or full refunds. It is not as if people wanted to cancel their travel and we cannot deter people from traveling in the future by souring their present experiences. (March, 2020)
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)