Now is the time to press RESET: Imagining a Post-Pandemic Tourism Industry
Post by RESET Initiators & Research Fellows - Drs. Alderman, Benjamin, & Dillette
Haiku by Drs. Benjamin & Lapointe
Now is the time for academics, practitioners, travelers, and humans to take a pause, reflect, then unite - We are in the middle of a global pandemic - a time where flights are grounded, travel bans ordered, people quarantined, news alerts 24-7 - people are afraid, anxious, and depressed - especially within our tourism world. Tourism is more than getting that photo for ‘Instagram’ - we are feeling that more than ever - the reality of not traveling to experience a culture, destination - indulge in culinary experiences - taste wine at a festival - listen to street performers amongst strangers - get lost in street murals - hug our family and friends - instead, we are realizing the reality of what a life of isolation feels like … a life void of travel. Travel is a series of social encounters worth saving for what they can add to our education and empathy as well as our enjoyment.
Now is the time to redesign our tourism landscape and industry to be sustainable and truly equitable. We’ve all heard it before - sustainability - ecotourism - over tourism - but who was really listening? Sure, steps were taken with select hospitality and tourism businesses/destinations toward limiting plastics, increasing recycling, providing counter-narratives and experiences - but was it enough? With this global pandemic there is an opportunity for a true RESET of tourism. Such a RESET is more than lip service or greenwashing of brochures; rather, it is about planning a tourism future not fueled solely by demand but guided by an ethics of care, social and environmental justice, and racial reconciliation.
Now is the time to be critical of our own actions, personally as travellers as well as corporately as companies. Once travel resumes, will you jump on the first opportunity to bounce across the globe like a Jackson Pollock canvas or continue to pause and consider how your next trip may truly support the local economy you are visiting? Will your tourism company jump back into old habits hungry for the economy to quickly ‘bounce back’, or consider how you may incorporate meaningful sustainable change as a way forward? Right now it is easy for so many to be critical of what caused this Pandemic and how tourism may have contributed - but, will this healthy criticism last? What should we do institutionally and intellectually in the industry and academy to keep this critique flowing, even as we advocate for tourism development?
Now is the time to use your privilege to fight for equity. If nothing else, this Pandemic has revealed to the world how important travel and tourism is to the global economy. However, it has also exposed the ugly underbelly of inequities that exist for millions of tourism workers around the world who have lost their jobs, have no sick leave or simply can not compete with the capital of larger organizations. What can YOU do to help level the playing field in the post-pandemic era? Most assuredly, there is an opportunity-if not an outright necessity--not just to regain travel and tourism dollars once the pandemic recedes but to reform the industry’s exploitations of people and places. What does a reparative tourism look and feel like for those marginalized by the pandemic and government response (or lack thereof)?
Now is the time to be more than an ally - to be an instigator of change. Once this Pandemic reaches its peak, our hope is that we will see it decline, and eventually level out allowing us to return to some normalcy. The question then becomes, what do we want to accept as ‘normal’? Will we accept destinations continuing to be over-touristed and in-authentically represented? Will we accept tourism workers continuing to be treated unfairly with no safety net for the next global crisis? Will we accept individuals and businesses capitalizing on cheap land and buildings to invest in their next venture at the expense of the local community? Now is the time to change the status quo, initiate critical discussions in preparation to instigate a RESET of tourism as we know it. Especially for scholars of tourism, the measure of your science will be judged not by how detached you are from everyday realities but by your level of engagement with a world in need of leadership.