The 'blow' of the pandemic was tremendous for tourism. After the crisis, the sector must take advantage of this period to reinvent the industry better. Experts talk about major challenges for post-pandemic tourism and provide some ideas on how to adapt to these new times.
Different Types of Tourism
What does tourism look like after the pandemic? Until COVID-19 came along and brought the world to a standstill, there were four major trends in tourism. These were the ones that predominated and struggled to find their own space among the others. The first three were considered 'unsustainable'. The fourth, however, was already tending toward a search for balance.
Mass tourism: trips to emblematic sites. In or out of groups. With tight itineraries and little time for everything.
Hypertourism: it is the least sustainable form of travel. Many flights and minimum stays in each place. It is the 'take a picture and go' type of tourism. It contributes practically nothing to the site visited or to the visitor.
“Occasional” tourism: this type of trips are not planned much and generally depend on occasional offers. It also includes weekend getaways or romantic trips.
Green tourism: from ecotourism to resilient or cultural tourism. These are the latest trends, which emphasize the quality of the trip, and not the number of photos that can be taken in front of monuments or famous skylines.
New Ways to Travel
What does the post-pandemic tourism look like? Four new trends have emerged in the aftermath of the pandemic. They are apparently here to stay. And some of them are very good news for the environment and tourist sites:
Microtourism: Facing a pandemic made many people aware of the excessive consumption in which the world is immersed. This gave way to 'almost' minimalist experiences. Small, short, rare, unique and original became fashionable. And so microadventures, microvacations, microfestivals, micromuseums, etc. emerged. All of these events are held under strict sanitary measures.
Last chance tourism: This is the one that involves travel to sites that may disappear or be drastically modified by climate change. Among them are various islands that may disappear due to climate change. But also eroded natural or artificial monuments, glaciers and much more.
Regenerative tourism: This trend refers to the fact that tourists should leave the destination they visited in better conditions than when they arrived. The central idea is to travel, but also to improve the site which is visited. And turn the tourist into a true 'doer' during their vacation.
Emergency tourism: Also called 'revenge tourism', it emerged from the global health crisis. It is a kind of escapism. Go wherever and however you want, as long as you travel. And neither the means nor the carbon footprint matter anymore. Sometimes even the destination doesn't matter. We travel because we can. And because behind the restrictions, there are people who have the imperative need to do so.
