Experts at the ITB Berlin NOW Convention sketched out “city tours of the future” in a panel discussion, chaired by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Arlt, CEO of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) and a member of the Committee of Experts of the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF).
The session outlined that it will be necessary to “re-invent” city tours following the coronavirus pandemic. In so doing there will be important roles for digitalisation and quality – whereby the word “quality” should also be seen in the context of significance and reason. Mass tourism will be replaced by tourism with a real significance, or tourism for a reason, a conviction held by Kum Hong Siew, COO of Airbnb China: “Traditional mass tourism is basically a form of isolation, but people want to feel connected and to belong, and they want to achieve this through travel.”
Photo: Manuel Antonio Beach, Quepos, Costa Rica – © Maximilien T’Scharner / Unsplash
