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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.
Assistance with tourist vouchers only to accommodation facility. Travel agencies were largely excluded because hoteliers do not confirm shared reservations. (July, 2020)
Very much, because I'm doing it my whole life, formerly employed youth tourism 7 years and now 23 years have my own agency. (June, 2020)
During the pandemic I followed the trend of the COVID data and read various articles referring to the forecasts for an economic recovery. I found interesting ideas from Croatian, Italian, Slovenian, Austrian and English articles. Each state had visions but in reality no one has a crystal ball to predict the future. For the moment it will be very difficult to start again. People are divided into two groups, those who are so afraid and would like everyone to stay at home and those who want to go out and continue living normal life as before- (May, 2020)
My concern is that after COVID-19 pandemic accessibility to culture and heritage will be limited with negative consequences especially for more vulnerable visitors, including people with disabilities. Too often these visitors are already excluded from their right “freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts” (Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). (May, 2020)
Hotel management could begin to think about how the crisis will affect tourists' behavior. In my opinion, safety will emerge as one of the most important factors in tourists' decision making. So the hotel management could go through the "design thinking process", through the stages upon arrival at the hotel. Maybe the hotel receptionist will be wearing gloves from now on. The lobby may need to be rearranged to make it more open, reduce the number of seats, move tables further apart. There might be a need to add disinfectants and air fresheners to rooms and throughout the hotel. Maybe add air quality to the hotel website. (April, 2020)
Knowledge from being a general manager in a huge hostel. Project Management in a digital association. Online Marketing. Connecting technologies and trends to use them for business models for growth strategies. Motivation, enthusiasm and a "never give up, your survival is just an idea away" mentality! (May, 2020)
Trainings concerning how to successfully hold a webinar and keep connections after the online events. (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)
Criminals phishing company details to claim subsidies entitled for small businesses in various states of Germany. (May, 2020)
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)