The tourism industry was under the gun in the years leading up to the pandemic. The different aspects of overtourism exposed several negative impacts of the tourism economy on local quality of life. Climate change activists put a spotlight on the carbon emission through tourism, especially through aviation. Most of our clients were actively engaged in addressing these challenges.

During the pandemic, the call to Reimagine tourism started almost as soon as the pandemic started. I’ve participated in, and watched dozens of virtual conferences and webinars and have read numerous articles and posts. And even though they are inspiring, most focus on pointing out the challenges with the current system and the consequences of inaction.

Besides broad concepts and vision there is a big gaping hole to address the how. The how starts with redefining success. Tourism has almost exclusively been measured in economic terms. The size of the visitor economy in GPD, the amounts of people employed, the amount of taxes collected are typical measures. And growth is always a goal.

Focussing exclusively on economic measures poses the risk of selling long-term quality of life for short-term economic gains. Instead of setting pure economic goals, set goals that include social and environmental goals. This simple start will frame decisions moving forward in a better way.

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