The Corona crisis accelerates the change in tourism
The tourism industry expects long-term effects of the Corona crisis - this is shown by a study of the Institute of Brand Logic. 80 percent of the surveyed tourism experts expect the Corona crisis to last until summer 2021. Future trends such as wellness, nature and regionality are accelerating, and adapting to these trends will be critical to the success of tourism businesses.
In the current study by the Institute of Brand Logic, tourism experts from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and South Tyrol were asked about their assessments of the Corona crisis.
"For destinations and businesses, the Corona crisis poses an economic threat," says Markus Webhofer, founder and CEO of the Institute of Brand Logic. "How big this challenge turns out to be depends on the duration of the crisis as well as the intensity of the measures to contain the pandemic." With this in mind, 56 percent of the tourism decision-makers surveyed expect a combination of long duration and moderate measures to be the most likely scenario.
The journey goes in the direction of future trends
Most respondents also see the crisis as a catalyst for key future trends such as wellness, safety, experiencing nature, regionality and sustainability: "Drastic cuts like the Corona crisis often accelerate already existing developments," says Webhofer. "For tourism businesses and destinations, their future success will depend on whether they manage to find a response to these future trends.""
Guest behavior as a factor of uncertainty
In addition to the trends, another decisive factor for future success is whether and how the behavior and decisions of guests will change in the long term as a result of the Corona crisis. So far, the tourism experts surveyed are largely unanimous on only one point: 77 percent expect guests to become more hygiene-conscious.
How should tourism destinations and companies now respond to the challenges? In the short term, respondents almost unanimously see closer exchange and coordination between stakeholders as the most important lever. In the long term, crisis prevention and working on future trends are on the agenda.
