Not so long ago, actually, a few months ago all of us in the tourist world were talking about what tourism of the future would look like in this year we started: robotics was going to replace people, artificial intelligence was here to stay, and many other forecasts.
And all of a sudden, a virus comes and paralyzes us all dry and leads us to ask ourselves: What do we do right now?… We are forced to digitize instantly in order to continue.
Many of the Chilean tourism SMEs we helped in their digitization process told us: “We are very interested in this initiative, but right now we are deciding what we do, temporarily closing or continuing.”
After hearing and understanding the process of “grief” in which they find themselves seeing how the business they launched since its inception is reeling again, we know that we need to pause for a moment, reflect to help them go their way, to show them where the light is in so much shadow.
Therefore, from the UNAB Tourism Technology Centre (CETUR) we have provided various tools to continue helping companies (technological diagnostics, accompaniment in the adoption of technology, webinars, manuals and recommendations…), but the most important thing has been to listen to their requests and demands, but also to help them elucidate a question that invades us all: what will tourism of the future look like?
I would love to have a magic wand and guess the future, but this magic does not yet exist, the only way to find out where tourism can be channeled and, most importantly, our client, the traveler, is through an analysis process that goes from the personal up to potential trends.
To do this, we begin with a personal reflection on how this pandemic is affecting me emotionally and socially. Right now, I find myself in a process of dilemma about how I will face the end of the quarantine, since, because of my Latin character, I will be looking forward to going for a beer to a bar, eating with my family at a restaurant and resting anywhere wonderful; but on the other hand there is the fear of being a closed place with more people, of touching something that I am unclear if it is disinfected, of traveling by public transport.
What is clear is that our perception of the present world and society has been altered, we do not yet have the certainty of what it will be, and it will be a topic to study and reflect soon.
But how will all these changes affect the tourism sector? What will the future tourist look like? Next, I venture to define some concepts that will be present in post coronavirus tourism.
Slow travel: this quarantine has caused us, in many cases, to discover that we may have time for ourselves, that we do not need to be running all the time to achieve goals that we know a priori unattainable. Which will help us to realize that we can enjoy traveling, doing “slow travel” as the Booking studio anticipated, so that we will live the trip from the moment of planning and throughout the process of the same, leaving aside the “posture” towards the Other
Secondary destinations: we will bet on shorter and closer trips, to places that are not crowded, and that we can move in our own car or even boost the use of mobile homes, which allow you to move to your liking and stay in your “own house.”
Cleanliness: this aspect will start to be key in the assessments and opinions that are made of the tourist services offered on the various platforms and it will be necessary to ensure the level of disinfection to the tourist in some way so that you feel confident in our business and in our country.
Solidarity: it is a great word that has become very important in recent weeks, which will result in wanting to travel and also take advantage to help and collaborate actively in the territory, contribute a grain of sand to improve the lives of others and also want to create a better world among all.
Digitization: in many cases it has reached us without being fully prepared, and we are aware that it has come to stay. Some of the elements that will most strongly have to be taken into account will be the need to be present in ecommerce with an online but local delivery, and both aspects will be a revolution about how to approach our client, supporting strongly our own channel, or leaving our business in the hands of third parties, who in some cases have not supported us in these tough times.
In order to be able to address this new tourism safely and confidently, they can count on our Tourism Technology Center, which through their extensionists will accompany them in the process of reflecting and thinking about new ways for their business, they will look for those technological solutions suitable for their type of business that help them get back up and grow, and they will analyze those courses that allow them to train to understand this new digital environment. In short, they will be your allies in this moment of tourism uprising.
Finally, the only thing that is clear is that the human being is curious by nature, and will want to continue to know and discover new landscapes, food dishes, cultures… But that will have to be adapted to another social reality.
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
