The leisure and business travel industry is continuously evolving and generating economic activity. Many European countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Malta are heavily dependent on mass tourism that creates jobs mostly in the low end of the market. But the future of the travel industry depends on how we optimise the resources we dedicate to support tourism.

Cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Venice and small island destinations like Cyprus and Malta are beginning to wonder whether they want to live with the over-tourism model that has brought them apparent prosperity for decades. Amsterdam and Barcelona seem to have decided they want tourism to have a more positive impact on a broader group of locals, not just businesses that cater for tourists.

The current tourism strategy of many countries is nothing more than a race to the bottom. Exploiting the short-term gains of mass tourism in the form of the proliferation of microbusinesses catering for tourists, substandard cheap accommodation, and the employment of young underpaid and under-trained staff ultimately produces fewer benefits at higher social costs.

Barcelona’s policymakers arguably have the best vision on how to promote sustainable tourism to ensure locals benefit from the industry as much as hoteliers, restaurants, and other tourism related businesses. They have listened to citizens’ protests because of the city groaning under the weight of tourism.

Over-tourism has caused a housing crisis in all destinations that thrive on numbers of visitors. Old city centres have been gentrified to appeal to day visitors at the cost of destroying the cultural value of these places. Now tourist destinations like Barcelona are beginning to rethink the way they manage the travel industry. They have stopped the building of new hotels in the city centre and limited the use of private accommodation for tourist use.

Significant shift in travel thinking is required

The upgrading of the industry by encouraging fewer tourists that have higher spending power is the holy grail of most policymakers that believe the present strategy built on increasing numbers is doomed to fail. But there is a big difference between knowing what needs to be done and knowing how to do it.

Quality service is an overused phrase that keeps cropping up whenever the debate on how to attract better-paying tourists erupts. I believe this element will be the most difficult nut to crack in the local environment where mediocrity seems to be the norm in most things we do.

Quality of service should mean manicured beaches and well-maintained cultural and historic sites. It should mean knowledgeable and well-trained staff, preferably local, to enable visitors to savour the experience of living for a short time in a Mediterranean island nation. It means encouragement and enforcement of civic behaviour in the way we drive, keep our streets clean, protect our countryside and preserve the beauty of our core village and town centres.

The evidence I see around me is that those in the tourism sector keep working in silos with their main priority being the maximisation of profits and the reduction of costs. Operators expect the government to shoulder the cost of marketing the island to increase the number of people that visit. I feel sad when I read policymakers engaging in self-congratulating comments for breaking yet another record in the tourism numbers.

I doubt how much will change in the way we plan the travel industry. Many are not prepared to look beyond a reliance on over-tourism to boost employment of mainly low-skilled workers, most of whom now come from low-cost countries. Too much public money continues to be spent uselessly by policymakers to attract more tourists including in the peak summer season.

Like in many other areas of planning, short-term economic and political priorities prevent the kind of soul-searching the travel industry needs to prepare for a better tomorrow. Short- term gain forces politicians and the policymakers they appoint to engage in mellifluous rhetoric about their plans for the industry. But then they promote policies driven by nostalgia and inertia in the raising of standards for the industry.

The next few years will be very challenging economically for most European countries. The restructuring of the travel industry of tomorrow requires a significant shift in thinking. I see no sign of an innovative mindset in the travel industry leadership.

‘More of the same’ is likely to be the way ahead for the industry until a spark from innovative thinkers defines a vision for a better tomorrow for the industry.

 johncassarwhite@yahoo.com

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