TRAVEL FOR TOMORROW: BETTER THINGS NEED TO HAPPEN
Apolitical.co (www.apolitical.co) has recently published a list of 75 organisations around the world demonstrating leadership in tourism, innovative new approaches to sustainable tourism re-growth and good utilisation of new technology.
No surprises to find the Slovenian Tourist Board (under the wise guidance of its understated, highly determined, Director, Maja Pak) together with Visit Ljubljana (led by the indomitable CEO, Petra Stusek) are high on this list. Near neighbour, Croatia, with HRTurizam and The Croatian Institute for Tourism are worthy of our attention - as too NEST - the tourism Innovation Centre for Portugal.
Particularly inspiring is the Travel for Tomorrow manifesto produced by Visit Flanders with a fine opening thesis writtent by Visit Flander’s CEO, Peter de Wilde.
de Wilde, Pak, and Stusek should be regraded as tourism’s equivalent of PSG’s Messi, Mbappe, and Neymayer. Great individual talents and a formidable unit working together. Maybe we should entrust these three with fresh thinking about the future of tourism in Europe as a whole - maybe task them with an even larger geography?
Better things are on the horizon as Ray Davies - the song writer and founder member of the British rock band, The Kinks, has observed:
“Here's hoping all the days ahead, Won't be as bitter as the ones behind you. Be an optimist instead, And somehow happiness will find you. Forget what happened yesterday. I know that better things are on the way. Here's wishing you the bluest sky. And hoping something better comes tomorrow.”
(Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: Davies Raymond Douglas, Better Things lyrics © Merg Music Ed., Davray Music Ltd.)
Or as the wonderful George Harrison told us: Here comes the sun
“Here comes the sun. Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
(Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: George Harrison, Here Comes the Sun lyrics © Harrisongs Ltd, 1969)
Tourism needs to see better things to happen. Smiles need to return to our faces. It is out collective responsibility to make sure that the industry behaves more responsibly to our host communities, to the environment and to the people who work in the sector as we search for the new extraordinary.
