The COVID-19 pandemic caused many countries to close or restrict their borders, the US was no exception. In 2021 alone, the tourism sector had losses of two trillion dollars, according to UN estimates. Currently, people have a need to travel, which is why tourism in the country is experiencing a rebound, however, there are various global factors that are limiting the trend from continuing.
Although tourism is expected to increase by 30 percent this summer, the sector will not fully recover until 2027, so it is necessary to ensure the conditions for the sector to continue to grow and reach the estimates.
This was stated by specialists in the field during a press conference organized by Ethnic Media Services, where they pointed out that it is difficult to guarantee constant growth in tourism due to factors such as inflation, climate change, internal or external conflicts in countries, among others. However, all possibilities must be considered.
Dr. Frederic Dimanche, director of the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, explained that people are looking for new experiences and visiting their relatives after the pandemic, a fact that currently drives tourists, but external factors will be the limiting factors.
«With inflation, the cost of travel has increased dramatically, particularly air travel and the cost of hotels. It seems like everyone wants to make up for the funds they lost during the pandemic, and all those businesses are now trying to recoup some of what they lost.", he pointed out.
Traveling has become very expensive, however, necessity allows us to cover the cost, although it must be considered that we will not always have the financial solvency to do so and this will end up limiting many who are traveling today.
For her part, Cassandra Costello, executive vice president of the San Francisco Travel Association, mentioned that tourism is essential to the economy, which is why investments have been made in new programs to invite tourists.
He said there are also new places to discover new experiences, and work has been done to renovate parks, museums, open spaces and places that are attractive to those who want to get to know San Francisco.
"Like other cities in the United States, San Francisco is still struggling with some pandemic-related challenges, but it remains one of the safest cities, with crime down 7 percent," he said.
For Costello, the good news is that there is an increase in tourism in San Francisco, and tourists, for the most part, want to return to visit the city and its surroundings. However, work is still being done with great enthusiasm to achieve the expected increase.
James Altucher, podcaster and author of «New York is dead forever», He explained that the recovery of tourism is by no means guaranteed, since high travel costs are becoming a determining factor.
In the case of New York, he pointed out, it is affected by crime and population decline.
«Tourism has increased from 2020 to 2021, New York had 60 million tourists last year and it will surely increase more, but tourism has decreased since 2019, and if you do the math, it will recover in 2026-2027, it is not yet known. What we do know is that tourism is affected by crime rates, crimes, taxes, inflation and others.».
Finally, Iuliana Popa, PhD student at Conrad Hilton College of Global Hospitality, stressed that employees in the tourism sector were also affected by the pandemic, as most of them lost their jobs, forcing them to permanently change their workplace.
And now that tourism is to be reactivated, he said, it is difficult to hire personnel for this sector, since fear and anger are among the emotional effects that have caused job losses.
It is understood that the hotel and tourism industry is not responsible for external factors in the world, but it can improve working conditions that generate an environment of stability and security in the workplace, he explained.
«For companies in the hotel industry, it is impossible to control external factors such as the virus, but there are other immediate actions that they can take, for example, offering more competitive salaries, especially with inflation making everything more difficult for employees in the hotel industry.».
For experts, the increase in tourism after the pandemic is a current trend but not a permanent one, due to external factors such as the economic situation with inflation, climate change with extreme temperatures in various places, or internal and external conflicts in each country such as the war in Ukraine.
In light of this, they agreed that it is necessary for companies and governments to seek measures to boost tourism, support it with programs or campaigns that are attractive to tourists, while taking care of the employees in this sector, since they will be the ones who will provide the necessary impetus to continue with favorable numbers for world tourism.
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