The pandemic obliged us to rethink the tourism industry as a whole.

More specifically, rethink the dichotomy of quality and quantity.
An enhanced focus on guest experience has compelled the industry to redesign its products, services and processes in order to adapt to the new paradigm as well as to reposition our destinations, with a focus on the guest experience design. The experience needs to be unique, multi-sensorial and authentic, which can happen through a general increase in quality, at the expense of quantity.

Italian destinations and infrastructures are not able to continue to bear mass-tourism, standardized experiences and over tourism in locations characterized by a strong uniqueness and space limitation such as Venice, Capri Island, Florence etc… At the same time, the old format of mass-tourism appears to be unsustainable for some unique destinations in consideration of the competition from low-cost countries and the increasing “cost of low cost tourism” in terms of social impact on the local communities, environmental impact and quality of the labour market.

Therefore, a model based on quality of the experience coupled with a growth in average spending per capita, is likely to compensate the reliance on high numbers of visitors.

A very recent example of this new trend can be found in Capri Island, part of the “grand tour” for more than 2 centuries. Last September, for the first time, a concert was held in one of it’s most iconic places, the Blue Grotto, usually visited by tourists on small boats. On this occasion, a traditional Neapolitan music band performed in the cave, while many tourists decided to “embark” into this unique experience including both nature and culture in the same, unique spot.

In this new landscape, digital technologies have a primary role as relationship enablers. In fact, digital tools, both in terms of digital marketing and digitalization of the guest experience (e.g., digital check-in, room-service apps etc.) are a tool for the industry to enhance the centrality of the relationship with the guest. Thanks to the digitalization and automatization of repetitive processes, hospitality operators can dedicate more time and energy to build on the authenticity of the relationship with the client, anticipate needs based on AI and on CRM-based information. Therefore, the “hospitality and tourism experience” is not just the time between check-in and check-out, but a whole process of information, reservation, trip planning, until the nurturing of the relationship once the guest is finally back home.

A receptionist – beyond his/her role of document-checker and key-giver – can be someone genuinely interested and dedicated to making the guest feel welcome, understanding the needs behind the trip and adapting the guest experience to the guest expectation and – if possible – excelling them.

A waiter can perform not as a menu-reader or a dish handler, but also as a cultural facilitator, able to translate the culture of the destination and the philosophy of the cuisine into a truly unique and personalized experience for the client.

People in the industry can be more brand or destination ambassadors rather than just employees.

True. Some of these changes are already in place, but let’s face it…they often still feel part of a standardized process!

This pandemic has given us the courage and the strength to expedite changing processes that had already started and have been adopted mainly in luxury segments of the industry and implement them also in the other segments of the market.

In this way we will be able to see a general enhancement of quality at the expenses of quantity. Less “touch and run” travelling – or “shoot and post” in a social media era – and more educated, experiential travels. Less cheap souvenirs to buy in favour of more unique memories and relationships with people, cultures, food and territories to be treasured.

For this very reason, we need to educate and train the people working in the industry providing them with the tools they need to respond to these challenges: digital tools for marketing and experience design, big data analysis, but also soft, non-cognitive and relational skills to enhance the human touch that the new travellers are looking for.