Let’s be honest, we all like quick and simple answers to questions. That’s normal. However, in the post-COVID world many of us in tourism have recognized that complicated questions cannot always be answered with a quick and simple answer. Many of the discussions by those in our industry have been asking questions related to understanding the full impact of the pandemic on tourism or trying to comprehend exactly how long it will take for travel and hospitality to be back to full or growth capacity.
Typically, and especially on LinkedIn, someone responds to these types of questions with an answer that is at best naïve and at worst deceptive. A comment for example that states, “OTA’s are seeing stronger bookings than ever”, does not equate to an answer to the larger questions. In fact, the performance of any one segment or group only serves as a piece of the puzzle, it might be helpful but not a true holistic answer.
The Atlantis Press released a University Research paper entitled, “Raising the Tourism Industry as an Economic Driver Post COVID -19” which caught my eye and helped provide a balanced answer to this question. Early in the paper they state, “The dynamic structure of the tourism environment results in some types of hub and speaker behaviors. In other words, we have many main players linked to several other components of the device on each layer of the network. Many components, on the other hand, are only connected to some neighbors.”
This is exactly the point; the travel, tourism and hospitality trade are a complicated amalgam of businesses colliding with a massive mix of consumers.
- There is massive fragmentation as to how people research
- There is massive fragmentation as to how and where people buy or transact
- There are huge disparities in audiences and consumers needs and wants
- It is subject to changing cultural and political preferences
- There are dependencies and inter-dependencies to consider
- Sometimes what is seen as incremental growth is just a shift
Why does this matter? Maybe you are thinking of many other businesses that also have similar challenges and wondering why, if at all, it matters more for tourism. The research paper indicates why that could be the case; “The next epidemic is about to occur. A new virus or natural catastrophe will grab our eye much earlier rather than later, but are we prepared?”
Some businesses thrived during COVID – take-out food, Amazon, and streaming services like Netflix. It does not matter to them if the pandemic is over nor if another one occurs. Many other companies adjusted during COVID, and they are now better prepared than ever for another pandemic. But that has not happened with our industry, we are still not out of the woods and if another pandemic was to occur, we may be more prepared, but anything else like COVID will still set us back economically. We cannot offer “remote vacations” - when travel just stops, we are all hurt.
It’s not all doom and gloom. Like any crisis it forced more of us to collaborate and work closer than ever before. That’s a real positive. If we can continue that momentum and broaden the scope of collaboration, expanding globally and ensuring that the alliances represent true diversity and expertise, we will be ahead as an industry and better equipped to handle whatever comes over the horizon.
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