From the Middle East to the world

Mohamad Navabi is a travel Consultant and Marketing agent at Nika Tour and Travel agency, based in Teheran, Iran, present at ITB Berlin NOW in the Buyers’ Circle. We asked him what his outlook is for the coming year.

I think tourism will gradually restart again. People will get vaccinated sooner or later and a large percentage of them are waiting to be able to travel again. When that time comes, we could well face a large volume of travellers. The trend is towards different kinds of travel, like remote, distant places, far from the cities. Preparing for the coming year is a must, so we need to advertise ourselves to the world, in order that when the time will come, we benefit from our efforts.

All those in the tourism industry need to find and define new ways of travelling

What would you say is the most important lesson that has been learnt (or should be learnt) from the Covid crisis?
All those in the tourism industry need to find and define new ways of travelling, promoting new routes and close-to-home tours, as well as exploring secondary destinations. People need to travel, to have a human connection and to be with family and friends. In my opinion, we should invest in our physical and mental health so when the world is ready, we will be ready to travel again. It is time to move to our “next normal”, and frankly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Photo: Mohamad Navabi, Incoming Department, Nika Tour and Travel