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COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Support businesses to speak with one voice

Why

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of cooperation between governments, destinations, and business.

To rebuild traveler confidence, destinations must be able to demonstrate visitor safety across the end-to-end journey, which requires all players to adopt a coordinated approach.

Moreover, as the tourism sector comprises mainly micro and small businesses, there is a clear role for governments and DMOs to use their convening power to help local businesses work together and be heard by policy makers.

Do

  • Do gather compelling data on the industry’s importance to the destination, as well as the impact that the pandemic has had on local businesses and workers. For example, prior to the pandemic, New York’s Hudson Valley collected data which found that tourist activity supported multiple sectors of the economy, sustained $38bn total income, reduced the unemployment rate from 12.5 to 4.1%, and saved every household an average of $1,221 in taxes.
  • Do make things easier for stretched public officials — becoming a single point of contact to understand industry wants and needs, a way to communicate to the industry, and a partner to get support to the businesses and workers who need it most.
  • Do accept that different segments of the industry may have different priorities and focus the task force on common goals — but not on the lowest common denominator.

Don’t

  • Don’t try to maintain the task force beyond its useful life, and don’t ask it to solve every challenge facing every segment. Remember that it is a temporary grouping for the purpose of accomplishing a definite objective.

To find out more

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery Roadmap

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Rebuild Traveler Confidence in your Destination

Do

  • Do make safety measures specific, and try to secure broad adoption across a customer’s end-to-end journey.
  • Do engage city officials early in the process to seek their buy-in, help coordinate and extend measures across industry segments, and communicate them to residents and visitors.
  • Do encourage local businesses to raise awareness of local safety measures with residents and visitors, because first travelers can validate destinations’ communications and spread the word to family and friends that they would have the confidence to return. (92% of travelers say that they trust word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends.12)
  • Do focus communications on relevant social media channels and online forums. Since the pandemic, travelers have placed greater importance on pre-trip planning, and Pinterest has emerged as a popular platform.13 Almost half of all travelers have also increased their time spent browsing social media, and many rely on online travel forums to find information about how destinations are executing on safety.14

Don’t

  • Don’t activate tactical marketing too early. Multiple surveys show that travelers will not visit your destination unless they are confident that they can do so safely. Action 3 contains advice on ways to build their confidence.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Support Mainstreet/Downtown Businesses by Increasing Local Tourism

Benefits:

  • Facilitates additional spending at local businesses during a time when people are not traveling as much

Risks:

  • Spending will just be redistributed within the city, rather than be additional
  • Many city-backed marketing campaigns are poorly targeted, executed or measured

Impact: Medium
Implementation time: Slow
Cost: Low. This primarily is leveraging existing media and advertising resources to promote local neighborhoods.


Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Provide Access to Funds and Resources for Tourism Businesses to Adapt

Why:

Keeping local, small businesses is critical for the recovery of your tourism economy. By helping them develop new online communications and sales channels, create new lines of business, or repurpose and adapt their space, you are helping to create longterm revenue solutions.

Do:

  • Do spend time building the trust and confidence of your member businesses.
  • Do regularly engage with your business owners and provide support based on their differing levels of digital literacy.
  • Do set aside considerable time at the beginning to sort out payments from Shopify to vendors.

Don’t:

  • Don’t assume any knowledge. Create stepby- step guides, and share information on how businesses can take good photographs, buy ads, and market their businesses on social media.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Provide Technical Assistance to Small Businesses

Why:

Since COVID-19, travelers, particularly younger travelers, have a heightened awareness of environmental sustainability and social and racial equity. As a result, they are more likely to look for evidence that destinations are taking steps to address these issues.


Learn more about the Toolkit

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Help Your Industry to be at the Front of “The New Normal”

Why:

The pandemic is turning the travel industry upside down and has changed the way people think about travel. “The next incarnation of tourism is on its way.”

Do:

  • Do recognize that many governments and DMOs are siloed, risk-averse, and bureaucratic organizations, and will find it very hard to digitally transform. Therefore, partner with brands and technology vendors which are better placed to develop solutions.
  • Do seek innovative business and revenue models, where each party contributes something and each party benefits. Governments and DMOs should not underestimate the value of their authority, bully pulpit, data, audience reach and engagement, relationships, and ability
    to “get things done” in the city.

Don’t:

  • Don’t try to turn a DMO into a tech development company, as this is not your core strength.
  • Don’t undervalue your assets and don’t simply hand over your data. Try to price what it would cost the vendor/partner to purchase these assets or achieve the same benefits on the open market.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Give Those Returning to Travel a Reason to Visit

Why:

Once a destination has been able to contain COVID-19, its DMO should direct its attention back to promotion which will support economic recovery


Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Develop a City-wide Recovery Plan

Why

Many tourism economies have been devastated and will be in turmoil for some time. A city-wide plan can help to build a common understanding and realistic assessment of the challenges and opportunities that your destination faces.

Do’s

  • Do try to access data, research, and modeling to understand the size and shape of the pandemic’s impact on your tourism economy — with a particular focus on strategic tourism assets and vulnerable small businesses, and low income workers.
  • Do bring industry stakeholders together to support the strategy development process, speak with one voice, and play their part in implementing it. Action 2 describes ways to do this.
  • Do be realistic about what you can achieve. It would be better to deliver 3–4 actions with concrete benefits, than try to solve every challenge and deliver against none of them.
  • Do focus limited resources on gaps in support from other governments, support for strategic assets, and programs which are important for the long term sustainability of your tourism economy.

Don’t

  • Don’t activate tactical marketing too early. Multiple surveys show that travelers will not visit your destination unless they are confident that they can do so safely. Action 3 contains advice on ways to build their confidence.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Consider Additional Sources of Funding and Cost Savings

Why

In the future, many DMOs will have to manage with smaller budgets, and many local businesses have bled cash during lockdowns. As a result, everyone will need to identify savings, find new ways to collaborate, and pool resources for programming which benefits all.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide

COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery

Build Your Data Capacity and Digital Presence

Action:

Build tools and partnerships to help you better understand and boost your online presence with target travelers.

Why:

The pandemic has increased digital screen time. More and more travelers are searching for travel inspiration online, and they increasingly expect technology to provide them with more personal control over their travel experiences.

In a recent poll, 95% of travelers from 28 countries said they spent free time during the pandemic looking for travel inspiration, with 38% looking at potential destinations at least once a week.

This has created opportunities for destinations to use aggregated, anonymized data, and/or to ask travelers for permission to access personal data to personalize marketing campaigns and offerings — which should achieve significantly higher open and click through rates.

Do:

  • Do recognize that a data platform, particularly one which enables content personalization, will require money, time, and technical skills. It may also require upgrades to, or the replacement of, your tech stack (e.g., visitor data collection system, CRM, content database, suggestion engine, and visitor communication channels — website, mobile app, chatbot).
  • Do talk to your local public transit operator, which may be more advanced, and already using real-time traveler data.
  • Do recognize that a solution for a destination will be more complex than a solution for an airport, shopping mall, or hotel. However, the increased return on investment, in terms of reach, engagement and conversion, will
    also be significant.
  • Do engage a specialist database marketing company to build your solution, and do not try to build it on a public sector technology stack.
  • Do hire a dedicated project manager who has the technical capability to manage your vendor and oversee its work.
  • Do seek a costed menu of options before selecting your preferred solution.
  • Do run a pilot for proof of concept and to demonstrate that the expected return on investment is real.
  • Do seek legal and policy advice before handling personal data — not just to comply with data protection laws, but also not to adversely affect your government’s/destination’s reputation.

Don’t:

  • Don‘t try to turn your DMO into a tech development company, which will never be your core strength.

Learn more about the Tactical Guide