09 April, 2020

How and when will tourism recover during and after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?


We are currently in a medical, economic and psychological crisis. On the one hand, this crisis could awaken new or dormant needs, but on the other hand some of these needs - for the moment - will only be met to a limited extent. The way out of the crisis will therefore be a step-by-step one, and in fulfillment of step-specific needs.

03 April, 2020

The response of governments vis-à-vis the economic ramifications of SARS-CoV-2

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 first short report, provided by a joint work of 25 co-authors, including myself, is out now. It topicalizes the response of governments vis-à-vis the economic ramifications of SARS-CoV-2.

This report can now be downloaded at https://www.aiest.org/news/.

In short: Many economic activities have more or less come to a standstill since measures were taken against the spread of SARS-CoV-2. This includes tourism in particular.
Governments in various countries have therefore taken measures to cushion the economic costs of this shutdown.
This brief report presents and comments some of these measures as well as countries in which they have been implemented or planned.


*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/. 

22 March, 2020

Cash is King! It's time for helicopter money for the CoV-2 induced loss of revenue from services - amalgamating all other claims


Countries and territories are responding to the economic ramifications of the pandemic

Emergency economic measures taken by many countries and territories in response to liquidity crunches by the SARS-CoV-2 crisis essentially foresee for generous compensation for short-time working arrangements as well as loans - sometimes secured by guarantees - and, if necessary, subsidies. These measures help the manufacturing industry; on the other hand, they take no account whatsoever of the special features of the service industry and thus of tourism. Rather, this sector should primarily be considered for helicopter money for legal entities (companies) but also for the self-employed, thus placing the emphasis on subsidies. Possible means of implementation: A negative lump sum tax.

14 October, 2019

The future of DMOs - is it in the past?

Recently, critical voices have been questioning the role and works of Destination Management/ Marketing Organizations (DMOs). In exaggerated terms one could even speak of an increasing problem of legitimacy, in a sense “Who needs those organizations and why?” But to simply cold-swat DMOs is not the right thing to do. Rather one must question which tasks DMOs should and could take over in the future.

In the past, DMO had a broad foundation of their legitimacy

30 April, 2019

“Picking up visitors" was yesterday - Myths in destination marketing must be demystified

by Pietro Beritelli and Christian Laesser

Please note: This contribution is an abstract of a paper in the recent “Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Tourismuswirtschaft”. An English version is attached (click here to download).

Current approaches to destination marketing with the aim of "picking up/ attracting visitors" with the help of communication and sales promotion are under increasing pressure. Much of (destination) "marketing" is habitual, because everyone is doing it that way and it is concluded that it is having an effect. We oppose this: "Attracting visitors" through tourism organisations has never really worked and will work even less in the future.