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.
TOURISM MEANS
For me tourism means exploring new countries and places. Personally I don't refer to myself as a tourist when im going to other places. I would say im more like a visitor. I feel like being a tourist has some kind of a bad stigma. I know how it feels if you see more tourists in your city than locals. Thats why I try to not to behave as a tourist when im on vacation. Tourism also plays a big role in the creation and conservation of jobs. So in some way it also feels like a secure and steady income source for a lot of people. (September, 2020)
Student
Austria
Explore #TourismFromZero perspectives
Different perspectives on the selected topic: ALL
Tourism business representative
Bosnia Herzegovina
Tourist
Singapore
Tourism business representative
Slovakia
#From Instagram
TOURISM MEANS
The activity of travelling and experiencing the variety of the world's natural and cultural commons. (July, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Cyprus
CHALLENGES
A complete drop in sales. (August, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
CONCERNS
The ability of tourism organisations to create systems that will deliver a safe and satisfying tourism experience. (May, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Netherlands
IDEAS
New safety standards will need to be developed to protect tourists and travel workers on their travels. A new way of traveling is definitely waiting for us in the future. (August, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
I CAN OFFER
Social (online) support! As mentioned previously, providing social interaction through technology and media platforms greatly helps and keeps everyones mind busy while providing social interaction to ease the lockdown induced loneliness. I would also be able to provide the resource of shopping for the elderly in my community, which I have done twice this previous month, in order to allow the elderly to stay home and get safely delivered food and not have to possible expose themselves to the virus. Anything we can do to help everyone struggling to get through this time. (April, 2020)
Student
United States
I NEED
We need customers, interesting local providers, accommodations that will meet safety standards. (July, 2020)
Tourism employee
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
We need to rethink and build a more sustainable and transparent system. (June, 2020)
