Promoting Tourism in the Time of Coronavirus Is a No-Win
Skift Take
Tourism marketers are facing somewhat of a conundrum: The optics of tourism campaigns during widespread panic can fall flat, but failing to market low-risk destinations may make a bad problem even worse.
One of the vulnerabilities of the tourism industry is that it is built entirely around a discretionary good. That is, most people don't have to travel. They choose to.
Despite the massive growth of the tourism industry since globally disruptive events like September 11 and the SARS crisis, that still holds true. As coronavirus continues to spread around the world, the tourism industry sees free-falling demand for travel. It's anyone's guess when that may change.
With that new reality comes a question: What role, if any, does tourism promotion and marketing have at a time when the appetite to travel is low? One could argue the case both ways — that low risk destinations have every reason to ramp up their promotional activities. Or alternatively, that it's tonally off-base and borderline irresponsible to promote tourism — especially the carefree, leisure kind — at such a time.
Get the Latest on Coronavirus and the Travel In
