We’re working with a range of destinations globally to provide practical ideas and training to help them develop a more resilient, community-focused and sustainable tourism industry.
Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, this work took the form of Recovery Workshops – aiming to help destinations focus on recovery in the short-term as well as building up resilience for the future.
Why?
The impact of COVID-19 on destinations has highlighted the need to strengthen the tourism sector against ongoing and future shocks. It is an opportunity to reset and create a more balanced recovery, one that continues to deliver economic benefits but also addresses negative environmental and socio-cultural impacts.
Support for a smarter recovery
We are assisting tourism destination managers in the development of their tourism recovery plans by providing a framework against which their plans can be reviewed. By participating, they can:
Ensure plans are based on robust evidence
Address destination vulnerabilities, many that will have been further exacerbated by the pandemic
Facilitate the development of tourism product offers to meet changing market demands
Ensure ongoing impacts are understood and strategies are in place to better manage future impacts
Create greater opportunities for local communities to benefit from tourism
Build stronger and resilient local supply chains
Invest in destination USP and align marketing and promotional strategies with impact management
Build overall destination management capacities
Assess the impact of COVID-19 on their tourism industry and design evidence-based interventions to support businesses
We will be using a handbook in conjunction with two tailored workshops to guide participants through the process.
Latest activities and destinations
Mexico and Guatemala
With our partner Sustentur, we are working with 12 destinations in Mexico and one in Guatamala. So far the feedback on recovery training has been incredibly positive:
“A very valuable program that integrated the most relevant information that we must incorporate into destination recovery plans, in a simple and easy way to apply with the support of the self-assessment tool”
-Yesenia Tello, Friends of Sian Ka’an
“It was very important to know the experiences of different destinations, visualizing the general context of the destination and integrating different fundamental aspects such as stakeholder participation, focusing on impacts, sustainable use and quality of service provision.”
– Antonio Días, Conservation of the Mexican Insular Territory, La Paz
In Europe, we have partnered with Green Evolution as its official Country Partner for Greece. Experts from Green Evolution will deliver the Travel Foundation’s innovative programmes and training to tourism businesses in the country, and the two organisations will collaborate to develop new programmes that help the Greek tourism sector to Build Back Better.
Roots to Recovery – in Colorado, Ontario, Scotland and Grenada
With the Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) we are creating an “Are You Ready For Recovery?” toolkit for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) initially in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga and Tuvalu. SMEs will also be encouraged to apply their knowledge through practical workshops and support to create stronger links with tourism supply chains.
