The global health crisis has exposed the fragility of the tourism industry in all regions and nations, as well as its post-crisis powerlessness. The boost in domestic tourism does help to buffer the percussion to the tourism economy, but can only redeem the loss of inbound tourism to a limited extent.
The most relevant lesson that Hong Kong — as well as other economies — should draw from the crisis is that only a resilient and sustainable tourism model can support the industry to negotiate unpredictable shocks and challenges.
The tourism industry is one of Hong Kong’s major economic pillars; it once contributed 4.5 percent of the special administrative region’s GDP by providing job opportunities to some 257,000 people back in the heyday in 2018. Before the yearlong political turmoil paralyzed the city and scared off visitors, shops catering to tourists popped up thick and fast in the city, dominating prominent locations in almost every street in its commercial center.
The “good old days” of the tourism industry, unfortunately, were eclipsed so fast that the number of tourists plummeted from nearly 5 million in March 2018 to 6,675 in March 2021. The once vibrant industry paled into insignificance in the city’s economic landscape after being fatally punched twice; namely, the civil upheavals in 2019 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. The performance of tourism, convention and exhibition services had shrunk by 94.8 percent by the second quarter of 2020, accompanied by a 70.4 percent wane in accommodation services and a 31.4 percent drop in retail.
It is not just about money. The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions warned in October that around 20,000 jobs in the tourism sector could be lost or furloughed. Among the most directly affected were some 14,000 employees of travel agencies and about 6,000 freelance tour guides.
While such contingency measures as staycations were eagerly embraced by the locals, stimulating domestic tourism and helping to mitigate the crippling effect of the crisis, the positive outcome can be only temporary. After all, local consumption power is finite, so the rise in consumption will likely hit a plateau as the passion for staycations flags.
The concept of tourism resilience resurfaced in the wake of the global calamity, widely recognized as the ultimate answer to crisis mitigation and contingency planning, to ensure the industry will be able to survive major disastrous events.
A crisis mentality among all industry stakeholders, including businesses leaders, employees, investors and the government, is a key ingredient to resilience. The wariness of crisis keeps every actor in the industry on its toes, spurring the roll out of emergency plans for better preparedness. For example, if tourism agencies, hotels and airlines harbor a crisis mentality, surely in moderation, they are likely to implement well-thought-out reactive manuals, which will come in handy when a new health crisis or an accident occurs. An accommodation for affected tourists, a broad network of medical workers and volunteers, and a sound communication channel to spread updated information contribute to emergency readiness.
Such readiness will also help to restore traveler confidence, which was battered drastically by the social unrest in 2019 and exacerbated to rock bottom by the coronavirus outbreak. Still teetering from the pandemic, tourists inarguably take safety as their priority when choosing a destination. Clear-cut measures for infection prevention, inspection and containment will not only allay the concerns of prospective tourists, but convey an important message that “we care about your well-being”, which carries a lot of weight in normal times, let alone when reassurance is desperately needed.
In addition to preparatory measures, a touchless travel experience is in high demand today. Contactless payment, entry and almost everything associated with traveling, supported by the internet of things and facial recognition technology, can profoundly alleviate tourists’ fear of being infected through repeated contact and face-to-face interaction. Hong Kong is behind the curve in the touchless and automatic world, compared to the fast developments in mainland cities. In the post-crisis era, the government should allocate more funding for contactless technology R&D, to speed up the tourism recovery.
A resilient destination is shaped by adaptability, diversity and versatility. There should be a paradigm shift in the tourism industry, in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world, especially those places dependent on the tourism economy, from traditional and monotonous to niche and personalized tourism products. It’s not difficult for Hong Kong to shift its selling point from shopping and food paradise to cultural and adventurous travel, because our city is blessed with an abundance of natural gems, such as lush green parks, hiking trails with a vantage point for a panoramic view, and expansive beaches offering water sports and activities. These off-beaten-path attractions offer not only a glimpse into the city’s lesser-known picturesque nature, but a desirable escape from the downtown chock-full of people — a hotbed of infectious diseases.
People’s pent-up travel demand and vestiges of fear of gathering provide an apt opportunity and recipe to explore a new form of tourism — private tours, which have existed for a while but remain a niche — to which Hong Kong can pivot.
Private tours allow great liberty to plan excursions with individualized twists while observing safe-distance practices. This niche sector will also create jobs for independent tour companies, which have suffered greatly due to the pandemic. The local communities can also tap into the small-group tour mode, providing more bespoke services.
The pandemic has forced the tourism industry into a hibernation, but it can be awakened by charting a new path. Sometimes it just needs to be creative, visionary, and a bit aggressive, not to resume past glories, but to embrace a brand-new future.
The author is a Hong Kong-based journalist.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
