It’s true that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the hospitality industry quite hard. According to the estimates of the World Tourism Organization, global international tourism dropped by 73 percent in 2020. In 2021, waves of new infections and the emergence of new variants of the virus continue to dent recovery hopes.
However, to some extent, domestic tourism seems to be working, at least partially. Governments across the world are taking impressive and immediate action to reinstate the sector in a bid to protect jobs and businesses. Many countries are implementing measures to make the tourism sector more resilient post-COVID-19.
Preparing for Tourism Rebound
With vaccination programs rollout around the world, most countries are now set to ease COVID-19 restrictions gradually. This is paving the way for the travel and tourism industry to start preparing for the future. Stakeholders should have measures in place to promote a sustainable recovery of tourism.
While the future looks uncertain, the COVID-19 pandemic has created the space to rethink and redefine approaches to meet the needs of the industry post-pandemic. Amid encouraging news on vaccines, the challenges remain and the sector is expected to stay in the survival mode well into the future.
It’s only after the resumption of international tourism that the sector will experience real recovery. This step requires global effort and cooperation, including evidence-based solutions to help lift travel restrictions safely. To make this happen, stakeholders need to implement the following:
- Restore traveler confidence
- Support tourism business to adapt and remain afloat
- Promote domestic tourism and support safe return of global tourism
- Provide clear information to travelers and businesses while reducing uncertainty by the biggest margin possible
- Strengthen cooperation between and within countries
- Build more sustainable and resilient tourism sector
Even as they aim to implement flexible policy solutions for the short and medium-term, stakeholders in the tourism industry must look beyond this and learn from the crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed cracks in government and industry preparedness and response capacity.
Now is the time and opportunity to rethink tourism for the future. Governments and industry stakeholders need to analyze the longer-term implications of the pandemic, capitalize on digitalization, and promote the structural transformation required to create a stronger and resilient tourism economy.
The preparation for the uncertain future and tourism rebound may anchor on these important areas:
Market Intelligence
In preparing for the tourism rebound, hospitality industry stakeholders must ask themselves two important questions:
- When will international tourism resume?
- How has COVID-19 changed travelers’ expectations and preferences?
Some of the answers to these questions can be found through market research and data. However, tourism industry players need to monitor trends from reliable sources to help them with planning decisions. This is important regarding factors such as vaccinations, infection rates, and national entry requirements among others.
Risk versus Reward
As the tourism industry recovers from the effects of the pandemic, destinations need to rebuild their international air travel and make things easy for travelers to visit. With this in mind, tourism businesses must now implement flexible travel rules in relation to their rival destinations.
At the same time, governments must weigh risk versus reward, considering the need to restore tourism and the desire to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the approaches may differ from one region to another, governments must strike the right balance without harming both sides.
For instance, some destinations have dropped strict lockdowns and quarantine requirements implemented in the initial stages of the pandemic. These have been replaced by testing protocols involving pre-arrival and further tests at given points. While they are good for curbing the spread of the virus, stricter approaches may spell a major decline in revenue for the hospitality sector, job losses, and business closures.
To prepare for the tourism rebound, governments and businesses in the tourism sector need to increase local involvement in the industry to meet the challenges of resumption. Proactive efforts must be in place to help rebuild airlift and cruise ship schedules. More importantly, emphasizing vaccination programs could help in lifting restrictions and giving visitors more freedom to maximize their stay.
Building More Future-Ready Tourism Industry
At the peak of the pandemic in 2020, the tourism-reliant businesses experienced a severe drop in revenue. This was due to the disruption in the travel industry, which left many hotels empty without business and staff. Many hotels now have to review their finances, cost base, and capital structure, having assessed the pandemic’s impact on them.
Additionally, with an uncertain future that may call for occasional shutdowns to respond to fresh outbreaks and COVID-19 variants, stakeholders in the tourism industry need to examine their visitor profile, networks, revenue profile, and staff profile among others.
They need to examine what kind of guests they accommodate, where they come from, and whether there’s a combination of leisure and business visitors, high-end guests, or families. Similarly, they should explore the ability to expand their networks including global hotel groups and reward programs. This could help in targeting travelers with diverse options.
Final Thoughts
The COVID-19 crisis is an opportunity to transform tourism into a fairer, resilient, and more sustainable economy. It exposed structural inadequacies in the tourism sector and its vulnerability to external shocks. There’s an urgent need, now more than ever, to fortify and diversify the resilience of the sector so it can withstand future shocks. The points addressed here could provide a good starting point.
Author Bio
Alexander Mirza, The Founder & CEO of Mogul – Humanizing Travel. Its platform StayMogul & MogulHotels provides booking, service, and Mogulrecruiter & MogulHospitality provides talent solutions for the hospitality industry.
