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
The activity of travelling and experiencing the variety of the world's natural and cultural commons. (July, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Cyprus
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
Income from tourists. (December, 2020)
Student
Slovakia
CHALLENGES
A virtual meeting/webinar is the future trend for the convention/conference business. Event organizers may suffer revenue loss as these days "on-the-spot" meetings are not as popular as they were in the past. (April, 2020)
Tourism or convention office, event organizer
United States
CONCERNS
My concern is that after COVID-19 pandemic accessibility to culture and heritage will be limited with negative consequences especially for more vulnerable visitors, including people with disabilities. Too often these visitors are already excluded from their right “freely to participate in the cultural life of the community and to enjoy the arts” (Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). (May, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Italy
IDEAS
Making a use of this pandemic and recovery time to invest in environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions for hotels to a) reduce the guests eco-footprint and b) save significant amounts of money as a Hotel (May, 2020)
Tourism business representative
Germany
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
Perhaps creating a small, inspired group of us for idea sharing, innovation and fostering creative thinking as we are all, in one way or the other, locked into the square box thinking (May, 2020)
Researcher, academic
Croatia
SOLUTIONS
Moving forward, I believe all hospitality companies from the executives to the property GM should have a detailed plan on how to adapt their businesses during pandemics. This will not be the last time we face a problem like this. (March, 2020)
Student
United States
EXPLOITATION
I think it is insane that you have to pay over €90 to get tested for COVID 19. There are a lot of people who cannot afford it especially when they were put on "Kurzarbeit" or lost their job. I think everyone should be able to get tested for free. (June, 2020)
Student
Austria
OTHER / SPOTTED
Communicate: build up your digital community now! Talk to you guests of tomorrow, contact the loyal guests and ask how are they doing. They will really appreciate it. Encourage people to stay home today and travel tomorrow. Share positive messages and make people dream about your destination. (April, 2020)
