29 September, 2020

The future of tourism with and potentially after SARS-CoV-2 - Continuous small steps and drawbacks towards a temporary new "normal"

The AIEST*, the International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism, has embarked on allocating, interpreting as well as reporting about key ramifications of the SARS-CoV-2 crisis.
The forth short report, provided by a joint work of 25 co-authors, including myself, is out now. It topicalizes the future of tourism in the wake of relaxing SARS-CoV-2 shutdowns.
This report can be downloaded at https://www.aiest.org/news/

AIEST assesses with this report the current situation as of end of September 2020. At the moment, the situation is volatile, and the duration of the crisis cannot yet be conclusively assessed. Hence, any type of forecasts can only be made with limitations. Nevertheless: the report tries to give you an idea of the situation with the help of some considerations along the following issues:

  • Observation of travel and tourism in the past three months: Changes in individual (travel)  behavior, changes in the appearance of tourism and tourism related services;
  • Short and medium-term changes in guest behavior;
  • Long-term perspective: terminated previous travel trends, new travel trends.
*The AIEST is the oldest international association of scientific and practical experts with particular interest in tourism. It is a unique social network with around 300 members in 49 countries on all continents. This network is devoted to an interdisciplinary approach to serving the needs of research in tourism. It includes an Academic as well as a Practitioner stream that allow an international scientific and practical exchange. The AIEST has contributed much to an objective understanding of the modern phenomenon of tourism, and to the scientific acceptance of studies in this field. Its members help to pinpoint the latest developments and trends in tourism, and to devise farsighted solutions for new problems as they arise.
Find more at https://www.aiest.org/aiest-profile/profile/.