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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.
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)
An opportunity to discover new places and cuisines. (April, 2020)
To travel free & wherever you want is still not possible and also not sure when it will be possible again. I work as a receptionist during the holidays and we are facing many challenges right now. The government frightened the people of travelling especially guests from other countries. Right now we have to put double or tripple the effort to generate new guests to get as many guests as possible to keep our hotel alive. (June, 2020)
I do worry about small businesses and tour guides who are already dormant during the winter months and are waiting for the summer season to accumulate their earnings, just that this summer likely won't come. But at the macro level, tourism should return to its old path. How long it will take is difficult to predict. What I can predict, however, is that, like anything, this crisis will bring some changes. There will now be a lot of room for innovation in current work processes. (April, 2020)
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)
I can keep people company or help them with basic info about how to use electronic devices to keep in touch with friend and relatives. (April, 2020)
I need resources that could help provide guidance for a graduating senior on how to best position themselves in finding a job in an economy going through a recession right now. (April, 2020)
Online wine degustations. (April, 2020)
Criminals phishing company details to claim subsidies entitled for small businesses in various states of Germany. (May, 2020)
Impact of COVID-19 on Travel: Foreign Travel Industry Needs an Immediate Rescue Plan:
This article is based on India's data but it could be translated to all the other countries in the world affected by coronavirus, because it is hitting the tourism sector the same way everywhere.
First it states that globally there is already an economic recession due to the fact that more than one-third of the global population is under restrictions. One of the worst-hit sectors is the tourism travel industry, not only by the evidence of the quarantine but also the cancellation of all the international flights. Currency exchange market depends a lot on travelling so it will drop off incredibly.
During the last years tourism was unstoppably growing in India but now this sector will have just to fight for survival, because even if quarantine ends and people go back to their jobs, travelling will probably still be restricted. He is also stating that in many countries the governments already started up plans for saving the tourism sector but India is not one of them, and should start working on that.
He gives four possible solutions to it: Cancel or postpone the proposed TCS on foreign travel that was introduced in the Finance Bill (2020), One-year GST Relief, Exclusive Fund Allocation for the Tourism Sector, Interest-free Credit Facilities for the Travel Sector.
See the original file here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/348757 (April, 2020)