Violence, mass migration – global tourism in trouble – or an opportunity?

Top-level destinations are seeing their tourism industries either devastated by violence, debased by crowding or playing host to migrants

The tourism industry appears to be in trouble. Top destinations like Kenya, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon have seen their inbound tourism numbers drop dramatically because of violence.

Holiday paradises like southern Italy and the Greek Islands are playing host to hundreds of thousands of needy migrants from the Near East and Africa instead of their regular tourists. 

The ‘Crème de la Crème’ of tourist destinations like Venice, Rome, Florence and Barcelona are seeing their tourism offer debased and abused by low-quality, low-spending tourist hordes – a nasty lethal cocktail of low cost carrier and mega-cruise passengers.

Even tourists from one of the world’s great source markets – the UK, are finding it difficult to get to their no1 destination – France, because of "migrant threats to the Channel Tunnel"

So what’s going on, and is there an opportunity here?

Clearly the global tourism industry is overheating and focused on too few iconic destinations. The crowds present targets for anybody with a cause and with violence in their heart. Fewer destinations equal bigger fatter targets.

And climate-change and political insecurity is beginning to create an enormous migration problem. Stands to reason, doesn’t it? We started flagging up this massive threat some 5 years ago. See http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2010704

Plus the destination icons are over-used and over-exposed. Ask any premium fashion brand and they’ll tell you the same. Maintain the quality of your offer and your selling price and you will attract aspirational and premium customer customers and make big profits, if you don’t you’ll see your product selling cut-price in bazaars.

You don’t think travel = fashion? Just think Coco Chanel who popularized the suntan, and hence hitherto unfashionable beach destinations a century ago, or National Geographic who are creating a fashionable travel brand of unique lodges now. And it’s interesting that the major destinations under terrorist threat are those created by the IMF/World Bank in the 1970’s like Tunisia and Kenya. There are more…

And the solution to the problem and hence the opportunity? National Geographic have got it right – authentic, unique, sustainable, small premium destinations.

Less cookie-cutter and more idiosyncratic destinations are the real opportunity, but unfortunately for the OTAs and cruise companies they’ll mean a lot more work and MUCH more complex algorithms.

Valere Tjolle

@ValereTjolle

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