In this time of global crisis and uncertainty, we put the call out to leaders, CEOs, strategists and consultants to sit down and tell us, in their own words, what is going on and what is going to happen next in this vital global industry.
In March 2020, the travel industry was hit by a crisis the likes of which we have never seen before.
In the three months since we entered the world of COVID-19 we have interviewed a dozen leaders in the tourism industry from around the world, including Destination CEOs, CVB strategists, product development specialists, research pioneers and tourism thought leaders, who have shared their respective views on the global future of tourism.
In those interviews, five themes emerged consistently:
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Destination Alignment
- DMO Advocacy
- Digital Disruption
- Destination Development
Eight months ago I would have called these trends in the industry. They were beginning to percolate up in various destinations in various guises, with varying degrees of success, but they were not formalized or ubiquitous.
But our current crisis has changed all that...
Today I call them latencies: existing, impending, essential but not yet fully manifest.
As the saying goes, the future is here, it just isn’t equally distributed.
A scan of what is being talked about at the leadership level in the industry points to the inarguable fact that alignment and the need for real and meaningful engagement with multiple communities of interest, as well as a pressing need for digital improvement are all accelerated by this crisis and will play a significant role in the successful destination organization of the future.
On the show today we go back over the interviews of the last 12 weeks and hear what industry leaders had to say about the challenges we face today and how we must adapt and evolve in order to survive and prosper.
The writing is on the wall, the ideas that will shape the future of destination management are already in play.
