Revive and thrive
Impact of Covid-19 on tourism and opportunities for embracing innovation
/ By Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
This article was originally published as part of the 2021 edition of Bled Strategic Times, the official gazette of the Bled Strategic Forum (BSF) international conference. You can access the full version of this and other BSF publications by visiting our official website.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit global tourism hard. Indeed, since it is built on mobility and person-to-person interactions, tourism has been among the hardest hit of all the major economic sectors. According to UNWTO’s own data, destinations across Europe welcomed some 220 million fewer international arrivals in 2020, and the crisis has carried over into a second year as many communities struggle to cope with the costs of a second ‘lost summer’.
To be sure, tourism will return. The sector is highly resilient, due in no small part to its ability to adapt to new challenges as well as the enduring desire to travel, explore and enjoy new experiences. After more than a year of staying home, there is significant pent-up demand for travel, both domestic and international. With regards to the latter, however, several obstacles stand in the way of our sector’s restart.
The challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow
Among the biggest challenges facing tourism right now are ongoing confusion around the constantly changing travel protocols and restrictions. With different destinations, including within Europe, imposing varied rules on testing, quarantine for arrivals or vaccination status, confidence in international travel remains low. The key to restoring trust in travel and making tourists feel safe again lies in greater coordination and clearer, more consistent leadership. The EU Digital Covid Certificate is an example of the kind of joined-up thinking that we need to get the world moving again, safely and responsibly. However, this approach needs to be embraced on a greater scale, and with greater urgency. Many millions of jobs and businesses, across Europe and also in developing countries where tourism is often a true lifeline, are depending on it.
Alongside addressing the immediate challenges standing in the way of tourism’s restart, we must also look to the future. The pause in international travel caused by the pandemic has presented us with a unique opportunity to think about the kind of sector we want to build, and to realign both political policies and business models in line with this. This is a chance to build tourism that works for everyone, a sector that is more sustainable, more inclusive and more resilient.
Embracing the power of innovation
Again, coordination will be key to achieving this ambitious goal. Under the EU Presidency of Slovenia, Europe has a chance to advance and accelerate moves towards the digital transformation of tourism. And it is a chance that must be seized. Embracing innovation and ever-evolving technology will bring a number of far-reaching benefits. For instance, data management tools, including those provided by UNWTO and our partners, allow destinations to better monitor and manage their tourism flows. This in turn will allow them to ease the pressure on the most popular destinations, promoting instead new sites and locations and ensuring the social and economic benefits that only our sector can deliver are enjoyed as widely and fairly as possible.
Similarly, greater use of innovation and technology will play a vital role in the green transformation of tourism. Work to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been slowed, and in some cases placed completely on hold, as a result of the pandemic. Now is the time to get back on track. Sustainability must no longer be seen as a niche part of the wider tourism sector but instead should be a key consideration in everything we do, from tourism transport and accommodation to resource consumption and waste production. Both the public and private sectors have a part to play here, and again, I am confident that the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the European Union will focus on aligning tourism management models towards greater sustainability.
Investing in tourism’s future
But the shift towards greater sustainability and resilience will require targeted investment, both in tourism’s infrastructure and in what we may see as the sector’s greater asset — people.
While levels of overall foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 35% in 2020, within the tourism sector, levels plummeted by around 73%. This has placed projects around the world on hold, not only work on hotels and attractions but also on vital infrastructure initiatives where the benefits will be felt far outside of the tourism sector itself. Significantly, falling investment levels have also pressed pause on projects designed to make tourism more sustainable. Building investment back up to pre-pandemic levels and beyond is essential if we are to get global tourism and its contributions to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development back on track. The crisis has shown the need for all destinations to better adapt to new opportunities and trends. These include the need for renewable energy, smart buildings and the circular economy, among other opportunities. Not only will this help make the sector more sustainable, but it will also make it more resilient and better able to cope with crises including both pandemics and extreme weather events.
Among the biggest challenges facing tourism right now is ongoing confusion around the constantly changing travel protocols and restrictions.
Alongside investing in tourism’s green future, now is also the time to invest in tourism workers, including both the sector’s existing workforce and also the professionals of tomorrow. Online learning, such as the courses offered through the UNWTO Tourism Online Academy, can help widen access to employment in the sector. They can also help bridge the gap between the needs of employers and the skills and knowledge of workers. Above all, online learning can play an important role in youth empowerment, one of UNWTO’s priorities for the years ahead, as reflected in our work to identify the best new talent through the UNWTO Students League and the forthcoming Global Youth Tourism Summit. Just as with the Young Bled Strategic Forum initiative, the wider tourism sector must realize the potential of global youth. Tourism has constantly evolved, and only through embracing new ideas, new voices and new leaders can we effectively recover from the worst crisis in the history of our sector and build back better. While we can be confident that tourism will indeed bounce back, making firm predictions on when or at what rate this will happen, remains unwise, especially since the pandemic is far from over.
What we can be pretty sure about, however, is that the tourism of tomorrow will be more diverse. In the years leading up to the pandemic, we had seen a growing interest in authentic and unique travel experiences. As the world opens up again, this trend is set to accelerate. The tourists of tomorrow will be more conscious of their actions, and even more determined to get to know a location, its traditions and its people. Destinations that can offer this will thrive. This means protecting and promoting unique cultural and natural heritage, as exemplified by UNWTO Ambassador Ana Roš, who has shown the power of gastronomy tourism to create jobs and support rural development.
Over the past decades, tourism has become firmly established as a pillar of economic wellbeing and social opportunity, both in Europe and worldwide. It has also been rightly recognized as an essential pillar of development; the sector has the ability to contribute to most, if not all, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our collective ambitions for a better and more just world for all. Now, as the sector gets ready to restart, we have a chance to finally realize tourism’s unrivalled potential to help build a better future, for people and for the planet.
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