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.
IDEAS
Many beautiful and culturally rich countries aren't given this kind of attention and are completely ignored by tourists. They can be visited safely and offer unique landscapes and experiences. In Djibouti, visitors can dive with Whale Sharks, while in Central African Republic, visitors can experience the African jungle and meet the native tribes who call the region home. Sao Tome & Principe has beaches that rival the popular spots in the Caribbean, while the mountains of Tajikistan are far more breathtaking than the far more popular (and over-visited) Swiss Alps. There should be a collective effort by travel influencers, media, and anyone in the industry to promote these destinations after Covid-19. We need to let the popular Instagram-famous destinations take a break to recover and we can revisit them in the future. (April, 2020)
Tourist
United States
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
Tourism became life for me about five years ago. When I started my journey as a tour guide, I gave up a lot. The main guideline was that I like to travel, research and share all the acquired knowledge with guests in Slovenia, Europe and around the world. I think we are slowly growing over the years and adding chapters step by step to our tourism career. (July, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
CHALLENGES
Predicting how things will change (May, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Netherlands
CONCERNS
When flights are being blocked or reduced, the tourism industry would be a major one that being affected hard no matter what reasons are behind the situation. What I am concerning about is, how long does it take to get everything back to normal, the actual situation would be even worse than any types of prediction. For example, It might be possible that all the official organization will be stating that the coronavirus is no longer a big issue for damaging the tourism industry, having a trip is safe now. But it takes more time than we thought to let public believe after the huge panic that the coronavirus caused. So, I personally really concerned about the amount of time for people to actually start traveling like what they used to do, would be still long way to go. (April, 2020)
Student
United States
IDEAS
One idea I had was to offer a "babysitting service" for parents who had to stay at home and work. Because that would keep people who are out of work busy and it would relieve the parents for a few hours who are stuck at home with them all day.
The service would include doing homework with the children and going outside as getting infected was less likely outdoors.
Another idea I had (which other cities and countries are doing already) was to offer more home delivery services. I think in Innsbruck we lacked take away/delivery services not only from restaurants but also from bars and pubs. But also companies which normally do not offer delivery services could have adapted quicker, for example: books (Tyrolia/Wagnerische/Thalia) or wool and fabric from small shops in town. Pretty much anything that would have kept you busy and sane during lock down. Which would have also created more jobs during this crisis. (June, 2020)
Student
Austria
I CAN OFFER
www.resilientdestinations.com is gathering resources for a sustainable recovery, and sharing them with whoever wants. (April, 2020)
Inventor, consultant
France
I NEED
Personally as a student of tourism studies, the main source of resources would be produced from the faculty itself as in this action it would reach to many other students that are able to produce benefits to solution to the problem itself. Probably it would be very productive to create some "brainstorm" activities in classes themselves, and that would also be considered when grading a student. For the whole education system it would as well be good as you said it yourself, we have a very good opportunity to change tourism industry for good in a good way for all of us, and i think that the school system is forgetting about inovative thinking of students. (April, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
SOLUTIONS
Group trips of up to 10 passengers within the EU.
Tailored travel programs for individual travelers. (August, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
EXPLOITATION
Assistance with tourist vouchers only to accommodation facility. Travel agencies were largely excluded because hoteliers do not confirm shared reservations. (July, 2020)
Tourism employee
Slovenia
OTHER / SPOTTED
Great to see initiative to re-think and evaluate tourism during the pandemic. Thank you. (April, 2020)
