Shifting gears in tourism and visitor economies

10 actions for turning crisis into opportunity

It’s official. Australia has adopted its COVID-19 emergency response plan. Among the sectors hardest hit will be tourism. Australia is still reeling from the environmental, social and economic effects of the drought, the bushfires, and the floods. Now Covid-19. World markets are taking a dive while we wait for events to unfold. We have known for a while that Australia’s economy is soft and but now with the global economy slowing, tourism is extremely vulnerable.

But because I am an optimist and always keen to reverse assumptions, I‘d like to rephrase the challenge:

While one of the sectors hardest will be tourism, our visitor economy has the potential to flourish if we use the opportunity wisely.

Domestic and international challenges are combining to create the perfect storm. While the media focus has been on a loss of consumer confidence driving a perceived need to save as a driving force in the slowing domestic economy, let’s be clear, this is a symptom of the times and not the cause of the problems. Rising concerns about the climate and ecological decline have created a tipping point. Neoliberal ideology and Industry 4.0 have also had a major impact on the availability, type and nature of work for the last…