Economic issues will also affect travel globally, since so many people have lost income during the pandemic. These challenges will shape our decisions when it comes to choosing a holiday.
By the time the pandemic ends, the days of choosing holidays based on destination or attractions will be over. Instead, the industry and travellers alike will be much more concerned with personal needs. Faced with the desire to travel and practical obstacles against it, people are expected to make more considered travel choices. They will have much higher expectations of hospitality service providers and be much more demanding. In order to keep up, the industry should prioritise offering services, facilities and experiences that cater to wellness, health, and overall wellbeing.
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Travel A road trip in Burgundy reveals far more than fine wine. Travel My Hometown In L. Travel The last artists crafting a Thai royal treasure. Subscriber Exclusive Content. Crisis management will be a particular area of focus. Safety and health policy issues also. It is too early to say what the long term implications of the crisis will be for tourism, but a return to business as usual is highly unlikely.
The tourism sector will be a very different in to what it was in The longer the crisis continues, the more businesses and jobs will be lost, the greater the implications for traveller behaviour, and the tougher it will be to rebuild the tourism economy. Box 2 presents some of the potential long term impacts which may arise, and their policy implications.
The crisis is a call for governments at all levels to take strong and co-ordinated policy action to mitigate the impacts and support the recovery. It is also an opportunity to take advantage of new technologies, implement green recovery strategies, and shift to policy and business practices that better balance the environmental, social and economic impacts of tourism. Policy makers should leverage the opportunity to reboot the tourism economy on a stronger, fairer and more sustainable footing.
The crisis, and the recovery plans that are being put in place, are a once in a lifetime opportunity to move towards more sustainable and resilient models of tourism development. In this environment, tourism is high on the global policy agenda, and similar calls have been made by other international institutions , including the United Nations 10 , World Bank 11 and World Trade Organisation As the pandemic continues to evolve, the full consequences are not yet clear.
Policy makers will need to learn from the crisis to build a stronger, more resilient tourism economy for the future. While it is still too early to say with any certainty what these will be, a number of initial lessons are outlined:.
Crisis has been a call to action to governments, at all levels, to respond in a co-ordinated way, and has highlighted the importance of integrated tourism policy approaches to support recovery.
Delivering well-targeted and accessible supports as quickly and efficiently as possible to vulnerable tourism businesses, workers and tourists has and continues to be crucial. Government at all levels, and the private sector, need to be better prepared and have the capacity to react and adapt quickly. This requires more robust risk assessment and crisis response mechanisms, and closer co-ordination — at local, national and international level.
Strengthened multi-lateral co-operation and robust support is essential to reactivate tourism. Countries need to work together, as the actions taken by one government have implications for travellers and businesses in other countries, and for the global tourism system. Countries need to develop collaborative systems across borders to safety resume travel, restore traveller and business confidence, stimulate demand and accelerate tourism recovery. More efficient international co-ordination systems are also needed to respond to future shocks.
Sector-specific supports are needed to address the particular needs of tourism workers, businesses and destinations, and support wider economic recovery. Tourism has benefited significantly from general economic stimulus measures. However, it is one of the most heavily impacted sectors, and will have an impact on wider macroeconomic recovery in many countries.
Those parts of the tourism ecosystem that are not yet open for business and where demand is likely to be depressed or constrained for some time will require particular attention, as will destinations and small businesses that have been most severely hit and are most vulnerable. Continued government support should already start to build toward more sustainable and resilient tourism economy. Destinations and tourism businesses need help to be ready to provide tourism services to meet demand when the recovery comes.
It will be important to work with tourism businesses so they are sustainable beyond the end of the supports, and already starting to address the long term implications of the crisis. Measures should be increasingly conditioned on broader environmental, economic and social objectives.
Providing policy clarity and taking steps to limit uncertainty to the extent possible will be crucial to support tourism recovery. The outlook for the tourism economy remains extraordinarily uncertain, and business and travel confidence has taken a big hit.
Clear communication, well-designed information policy and clarity on the epidemiological criteria will be particularly important where there is a need to change travel restrictions and containment measures in response to virus outbreaks and the shifting sanitary situation. Improving the evidence base to inform policy and business decisions will be key, through information gathering, research and data analysis. The crisis has highlighted shortcomings in the availability of timely, comparable, granular data in quickly evolving situations.
Reliable and consistent indicators are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of programmes and initiatives, and monitor progress on tourism recovery and resilience. Your position as a tour operator in this rapidly changing industry is an important one as the tourism industry embarks on this next chapter. Governmental regulations, health awareness and the long-lasting attitude effects of a global pandemic will mean changes for the way your business may operate.
However, with this comes an exciting opportunity to adapt and innovate, along with the likelihood of travellers being willing to pay more to reduce their COVID exposure. Wandering through bustling markets, enjoying dinner at a bistro brimming with locals and visiting tourist hotspots were often the hallmarks of a fulfilling holiday.
Sadly, what once was the source of endless travel memories are now situations that incite fear and anxiety for many. In a post-COVID world, travellers will be much more cognisant of the need to travel to destinations that make it easy to maintain social distancing practices. Tour operators will need to get creative by designing itineraries that avoid public forms of transportation and crowded tourist areas, as their customers will expect this more considered approach to travel design.
This may take the form of itineraries focussing on more remote locations or even the increased popularity of niches such as birding tours and biking tours, where travellers are less likely to come into contact with others.
Taking the principles of sustainable tourism into consideration, socially distant travel is even more important. While promoting safe health practices is, of course, going to be beneficial for the health of the travellers, it is also for the good of the community. Subsequently, these practices will allow tourism to start operating again safely and sustainably, producing economic benefits for those involved as well.
In a post-COVID world, it will be more important than ever for travellers to stay connected as they travel.
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