As we power forward, a look in the rearview is warranted. As the French say, “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose!” The more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.
Two years ago now, in March 2020, the travel industry was hit by a crisis the likes of which we have never seen before.
In the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we interviewed dozens of tourism leaders and strategists from around the world. Thirteen of those leaders reflected on the most pressing issues facing destination marketing organizations (DMOs) at the beginning of the crisis:
Dan Holowack |
Greg Oates |
Christine (Shimo) |
Chris Hughes |
Amir Eylon |
Jack Johnson |
Rodney Payne |
Loren Gold |
Greg Klassen |
Flavie Baudot |
Bill Geist |
Trevor Tkach |
|
Terri Roberts |
Spoiler alert … the issues they identified were already in play before the pandemic, and they are still the top priorities for destination organizations today.
In those interviews, five themes emerged consistently:
- Stakeholder engagement
- Destination alignment
- DMO advocacy
- Digital disruption
- Destination development
Spanish philosopher George Santayana said it best: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”