COVID-19 is an opportunity to rethink tourism for the future — a shift from traditional tourism to adopting futuristic trends in the industry to ensure it’s resilient in future crises.
The pandemic saw a 60 percent decline in international tourism in 2020, affecting millions of jobs, primarily those held by women and those in the informal economy. Global GDP also took a significant hit. The way forward may be through adopting smart tourism and smart destination strategies.
Smart tourism is the evolution of traditional tourism and e-tourism, involving technology-driven innovation and extensive adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) and the internet of things (IoT).
