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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.
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)
Travelling takes you out of your comfort zone. It makes you see the world differently, not just out of your own little box. It makes you grow as a person. You are never the same after you have experienced the soul of another place and it's locals. And I think that is the magic of travel. (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)
Tourism faces a great challenge in the current year and I believe it will return changed and just different. Lately, it's been sadly a mess in some ways. Let's face it.. pollution, over-tourism, people using technology too much while traveling etc... pretty unsustainable, at least in some hotspots. This will change from now on and I believe there will be a better balance in demand. (April, 2020)
I want to choose a traditional and local apartment to live in, where has a guidance for the local restaurant, local food market, and the local events. And gunidance details is full of price, routine and schedule which was prepared for the tourists. (April, 2020)
The best resource I can offer to others is the power to brainstorm new ideas to improve the service processes in our tourism facilities. Just with a lot of innovation and new ways of service it is possible to reach the end with a success and not become a victim of it. (June, 2020)
Multi sector collaboration to collect data. (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)
https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75 - link to the article written by Yuval Noah Harari that I find curious, as it opens many cotroversial questions and dilemas for the future - as the author states amongst other emphases - a shift from “over the skin” to “under the skin” surveillance, with the use od biometric data. (April, 2020)
How tourism recovered from different disasters through history? (April, 2020)