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.
 


Eric Reguly is the European Bureau Chief for The Globe and Mail, based in Rome, Italy. 

He moved to Europe in 2007 and primarily covers economic and financial stories, ranging from the eurozone crisis and the bank bailouts, to the rise and fall of Russia's oligarchs and the merger of Fiat and Chrysler. He has also covered the Arab Spring in Tunisia, the Athens riots, the London and Sochi Olympics, the 2013 papal conclave and several national elections.

In my opinion, he is a stellar journalist who embodies the journalist’s creed: to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments... 

But I can tell you this, what really makes Eric tick is cities. Cities of all shapes, sizes and sorts all over the world. He has lived and worked on a handful of continents and in more than a dozen cities in his lifetime. And whether he's writing about Venice for the Venetians, or telling the story of the transformation of Pontevedra in Spain from a gasoline alley to haven without cars, his love for the cities he writes about is always apparent in his work. 

He cares about their sustainability and is constantly thinking about the things that will either help them flourish or cause them to decay.
 

...his love for the cities he writes about is always apparent in his work.


Eric joins me today to talk about the future of cities, large or small, and the pressure of COVID-19, overtourism, overpopulation and civic planning that is more reactive than proscriptive.

Spoiler alert: Eric doesn't have the same soft spot for, or the same forgiving disposition towards tourism as we in the industry do. He understands perfectly well as a business journalist the contributions that tourism makes to a destination, but he sees the necessity to make changes if the Golden Goose is to continue to produce eggs without destroying the farm. 

Progressive leaders like Miguel Fernandez Lores of Pontevedra are changing the way we look at cities and there, says Eric, are lessons for all of us, tourism included.