e have all seen the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic over recent years. From haunting images of empty New York streets and lockdowns in China, to canceled honeymoons and vacations, but one area that was particularly hard hit was tourism. Whole economies that rely on travel and tourism were decimated. As the world begins to recover and the tourist industry is now facing a post-pandemic society, there is more of a focus on how to adjust to safeguard against future economic fallout. The World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future analysis which studied the area of tourism throughout the world and how this sector of the economy is recovering from the pandemic loss.
The report uses benchmarks and measures in the forms of pillars of the industry on “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the Tourism and Travel sector…” The specific industry pillars include Healthy and Hygiene, Environmental Sustainability, and Tourist Service Infrastructure. In short, the study reaches the conclusion that the recovery has been uneven worldwide and challenges remain to truly achieve a level of normal. Pedro G. Gomez Pensado, WEF’s Head of Shaping the Future of Mobility adds, “...the sector and its customers have probably changed permanently.” Tourists now demand new health measures and policies surrounding site visits, more sustainable practices, and better labor conditions. As the world adjusts to a new way of life, the tourism and travel sector must also serve as a point of evolution for the future. Stakeholders must enact tangible changes to secure the prosperity of these destinations and their economies by developing vaccination policies, security measures, and making investments in modern technology.
The New Tourist
Ever since the pandemic started, almost every major tourist site has adopted its own unique COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and protocol measures. The new tourist is demanding more emphasis on health, just as economies are trying to recover and adapt to their existence. The report shows that low- and lower-middle-income countries score 50.0% and 25.6%, respectively, below average in the Health and Hygiene pillar. Countries can aim to restore customer confidence by showing that their destinations are investing in tourist health and safety—making people feel safe to spend their time and money to visit.
With a new emphasis and importance placed upon the workers at these sites due to pandemic outbreak horror stories, restoring confidence by strengthening labor practices and improving the working environment is key to a successful reopening. The average Human Resource and Labor Market pillar improved by 1.5% between 2019 and 2021, due to overall progress made in areas such as staff training. However, more can be done.
Environmental and sustainability considerations also had a renewed sense of importance since the pandemic. Part of a tourism marketing campaign now focuses on what a site is doing to prevent further environmental damage and destruction to ensure the site’s survival.
With a steady growing demand and a pent-up feeling of “travel fever” among the population, sites have to adapt to the influx of visitors once they reopen. New digital technology is available as a tool to measure crowd size and enhance the overall tourist experience.
A Look Forward
Lauren Uppink Calderwood, WEF Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industries wrote that countries must invest in building a strong and resilient environment to deliver travel and tourism experience and service. Tourism and travel can not simply default back to pre-pandemic policies. A clear evolution is required in multiple fields, requiring worldwide collaboration. Currently, the uneven application of new security policies, unequal access to vaccinations, and inadequate internet service is preventing the worldwide evolution of tourist sites that is needed to promote economic equity. In order to fully achieve the widespread adoption of new measures to ensure the economic viability of tourist sites, the world will require equal vaccine distribution, the dissemination of environmental policy and protection, and bridging the technology gap between small and medium-sized enterprises. Specifically, in the field of vaccine distribution, lower-income tourism and travel stakeholders have significantly less access to these resources than others. To ensure equity, investment in these measures and more will support the continuation of the travel and the tourism industry while supporting the reestablishment of consumer confidence.
a global affairs media network
Rebounding From the Travel and Tourism Disaster
Photo via Adobe Stock.
June 20, 2022
COVID-19 has decimated the global economy with few areas being harder hit than the travel and tourism sectors. In his review of the WEF’s “Travel and Tourism Development Index” report, Brennan Rose examines the future of tourism.
W
e have all seen the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic over recent years. From haunting images of empty New York streets and lockdowns in China, to canceled honeymoons and vacations, but one area that was particularly hard hit was tourism. Whole economies that rely on travel and tourism were decimated. As the world begins to recover and the tourist industry is now facing a post-pandemic society, there is more of a focus on how to adjust to safeguard against future economic fallout. The World Economic Forum (WEF) published its Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future analysis which studied the area of tourism throughout the world and how this sector of the economy is recovering from the pandemic loss.
The report uses benchmarks and measures in the forms of pillars of the industry on “the set of factors and policies that enable the sustainable and resilient development of the Tourism and Travel sector…” The specific industry pillars include Healthy and Hygiene, Environmental Sustainability, and Tourist Service Infrastructure. In short, the study reaches the conclusion that the recovery has been uneven worldwide and challenges remain to truly achieve a level of normal. Pedro G. Gomez Pensado, WEF’s Head of Shaping the Future of Mobility adds, “...the sector and its customers have probably changed permanently.” Tourists now demand new health measures and policies surrounding site visits, more sustainable practices, and better labor conditions. As the world adjusts to a new way of life, the tourism and travel sector must also serve as a point of evolution for the future. Stakeholders must enact tangible changes to secure the prosperity of these destinations and their economies by developing vaccination policies, security measures, and making investments in modern technology.
The New Tourist
Ever since the pandemic started, almost every major tourist site has adopted its own unique COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and protocol measures. The new tourist is demanding more emphasis on health, just as economies are trying to recover and adapt to their existence. The report shows that low- and lower-middle-income countries score 50.0% and 25.6%, respectively, below average in the Health and Hygiene pillar. Countries can aim to restore customer confidence by showing that their destinations are investing in tourist health and safety—making people feel safe to spend their time and money to visit.
With a new emphasis and importance placed upon the workers at these sites due to pandemic outbreak horror stories, restoring confidence by strengthening labor practices and improving the working environment is key to a successful reopening. The average Human Resource and Labor Market pillar improved by 1.5% between 2019 and 2021, due to overall progress made in areas such as staff training. However, more can be done.
Environmental and sustainability considerations also had a renewed sense of importance since the pandemic. Part of a tourism marketing campaign now focuses on what a site is doing to prevent further environmental damage and destruction to ensure the site’s survival.
With a steady growing demand and a pent-up feeling of “travel fever” among the population, sites have to adapt to the influx of visitors once they reopen. New digital technology is available as a tool to measure crowd size and enhance the overall tourist experience.
A Look Forward
Lauren Uppink Calderwood, WEF Head of Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industries wrote that countries must invest in building a strong and resilient environment to deliver travel and tourism experience and service. Tourism and travel can not simply default back to pre-pandemic policies. A clear evolution is required in multiple fields, requiring worldwide collaboration. Currently, the uneven application of new security policies, unequal access to vaccinations, and inadequate internet service is preventing the worldwide evolution of tourist sites that is needed to promote economic equity. In order to fully achieve the widespread adoption of new measures to ensure the economic viability of tourist sites, the world will require equal vaccine distribution, the dissemination of environmental policy and protection, and bridging the technology gap between small and medium-sized enterprises. Specifically, in the field of vaccine distribution, lower-income tourism and travel stakeholders have significantly less access to these resources than others. To ensure equity, investment in these measures and more will support the continuation of the travel and the tourism industry while supporting the reestablishment of consumer confidence.
