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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.
Home entertainment by the hand of tourism enterprises
This article explains that many tourism enterprises are keeping the contact with their clients, creating activities for kids and adults to help them go through these hard quarantine times. But, why do they do it if it is not their job?
The idea is keep in touch with the clients, even if they are not going to book anything with them right now, to remind clients that they will still be there when the things get stabilized, clients will remember them and start booking again. It is a long view strategy, but I think it is a smart movement from tourism enterprises instead of being just observers of the disaster.
See the original file here: https://www.hosteltur.com/135925_entretenimiento-en-casa-de-la-mano-de-las-empresas-turisticas.html (April, 2020)
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)
Apart from disrupting tourism activity, it has also disrupted our research activities (i.e. we are conducing bi-annual national survey of visitor motivations, activities, satisfaction and expenditure that was launched just before the C19 lockdown), it has a bearing on our consultancy services with contracts suspended, delayed and tasks redrafted, as well as on slowing down implementation of EU projects. (May, 2020)
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)
Higher prices for highly popular or mass tourism destinations. Mandatory carbon dioxide compensation of each flight ‘seat’. Merge tourism and education/development aid more or even make sure tourism companies invest in the education of local communities, so that these people become more independent and maybe even run businesses themselves. Make them less dependent of tourism. And please, lower prices for train tickets, worldwide TAX for flight tickets and increase flight prices. (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)
We need people who will not be afraid to travel. People who will want to travel. Abolition of travel restrictions. (August, 2020)
https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/04/best-practices-for-hosting-a-digital-event/ (April, 2020)
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)
Whilst this is major setback for tourism as we know it and many businesses will suffer as a result, I at least hope this will present an opportunity for the industry to change for the better. A more sustainable approach to tourism is needed, perhaps this will kick start it. (May, 2020)