Reflections of a Tico Tourism Scholar in Pandemic Instances.

It’s not a secret to anyone that the Health crisis continues all over the world and has been present for more than 1 year and 6 months to date. In this regard are the above pandemic has many effects not only on health, but also in economic and even ecological terms.

In this article, however, I want to specifically share the challenges I see as Tourism student, an industry that is undoubtedly one of the hardest hit in the world. And how not to put it when the closure of airports, borders, hotels and leisure centers meant, among other things, the layoff of thousands of workers due to the ultimate bankruptcy of companies engaged in this vital human activity, among many other consequences.

The case of the tourism students

For those of us who are tourism students, it was a real challenge as our entire program had become 100% virtual. Consequently, this has meant the cancellation of tours, supervised practices, fieldwork with communities and organizations, exchanges, in short, a series of actions that could not previously be imagined and without which we could not develop. can contribute Tourism specialists and with it the Uncertainty about our future.

But as mentioned earlier, these are just additional challenges. It should also be recognized that while tourism is very vulnerable to certain types of threats, it always manages to evolve and thus overcome them.

With this in mind, future specialists in this promising branch have formed under this line of action. Virtual interaction has allowed us to empower areas of technology that were not previously given great importance and that are becoming a fundamental need today.

This allows us to use our imagination, which, although it sounds strange, becomes a kind of learning and simulation tool for various topics of our curriculum. In addition, it has led us to explore other forms of non-verbal communication, which are important communication techniques with others.

Our love for tourism

And to so many qualities that we have shaped, is our love for tourism, because we do not renounce this industry and this situation obliges us not to be discouraged to make a contribution to Development of tourism, Adapting to new challenges; that is, to the new reality to which COVID-19 has led us.

After all, I have no choice but to motivate other tourism students to continue their education and contribute to this thriving industry that needs us today more than ever, as we are committed to it and also part of the new generation of professionals in this field in Costa Rica.