Tourism in Europe is starting to normalize again as more of the population gets vaccinated. There are many countries, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, with high vaccination rates that provide business opportunities for a large part of the tourism industry throughout the year. The situation is constantly changing both from a public health perspective and from government regulations. This Project wants businesses to successfully return from this crisis and be able to quickly stabilize their business in case of future crises.
We interview Chiara Gai , director of innovation at the Escola Superior d'Hostaleria de Barcelona , who tells us about the impacts of the pandemic on the sector. She says that vaccines will change the tourism industry for the better. While vaccination rates are increasing in Europe, the future of European tourism remains uncertain.
Gai is hopeful that as vaccination rates increase, so will the number of tourists Europe will soon see. This number will continue to rise as more people feel comfortable traveling overseas chinese database and government regulations ease. Earlier this summer, the European Union announced that travel restrictions for vaccinated foreigners from certain countries would be eased or eliminated.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council , tourism accounts for more than 10% of global GDP. Some countries, such as Italy and Spain, rely heavily on tourism because tourism contributes even more than the global average to their countries’ economies. Tourism also supports more than 330 million jobs worldwide, which are at risk from the sharp decline in travel.
Studies are being conducted to try to understand how drastically the pandemic affected the economies of individual countries and the entire world. However, many businesses in the tourism industry continue to learn and share knowledge about keeping travelers and workers safe while resuming operations.
Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Commission for Travel , said: “After a gloomy 12 months, we finally have reasons to be more optimistic about the summer of 2021. The rollout of vaccination programmes in Europe, although hampered by some challenges, has proven effective in stemming the COVID-19 infection rate.”
The six project partners bring unique expertise to the team. The partners are: The University of the Highlands and Islands, Momentum, the European E-Learning Institute, the Vision Works, the University of Akureyri and FUNIBER.
FUNIBER sponsors multiple university programs for the training of professionals with the necessary skills to handle business crises in a calm and controlled manner. For example, one course offered is the specialization in Knowledge Management and Processes in the Organization and, in the tourism sector, the Master's Degree in Tourism Management and Consulting .
