What ought to tourism be like after COVID-19? Look to Amsterdam

When COVID-19 hit the Netherlands in 2020, Amsterdam was cleared of visitors overnight. The long-time residents, used to the constant noise and rubbish, and the tourists peeing on the streets, welcomed the newfound calm. The pandemic, they said The Washington PostShe is “a blessing in disguise”.

COVID-19 presents a rare, if not unique, opportunity to address the ongoing problems facing tourism. From the way people achieve goals, how tourism is managed in the cities that flooded by it, not to mention the way its benefits and costs are distributed among local communities, the burden of the Overtourism has long been a concern.

Amsterdammers aren’t the only city dwellers who consider the current break much needed relief. Of Kyoto to Venice, since residents see a return to pre-pandemic tourist numbers a threat, no promise.

For years we have been told that tourism has to be sustainable without much consensus on what sustainable tourism looks like. COVID has meanwhile resulted in the term “resilience” becoming a point of contact for industry insiders and political decision-makers. But what exactly is resilient tourism? And can it make our cities more socially and environmentally responsible? Can it make life better in them?

Tourists take the Senbon Torii path at Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine in Kyoto, Japan. [Photo: Cheng Feng Chiang/iStock]

The resilience trope

Resilience is generally understood as the ability to deal with adversity and is touted as an essential quality for dealing with uncertainty and change, stress and shock. Resilience is not new in the trend. It was Time Magazine Environment catchphrase of the year in 2013. It has been one of the dominant tropics in the contemporary debate about anything from Island studies and Child psychology to Reducing the risk of disasters in cities.

The pandemic has of course brought global tourism to a virtual standstill. In 2020, 1 billion fewer trips abroad were made to tourist destinations than in 2019. Up to 120 million jobs were threatened. So think about how this industry that has previously supported one of 10 Jobs worldwide coping with the stress and shock of COVID is not a bad thing.

However, Critical geographers and political sociologists have also warned that the concept of resilience is threatening to become so empty an idea as sustainability. It has its roots in ecological and engineering thinking, referring to the ability to return to normality – to a state of equilibrium – after a period of adversity. However, critics argue that in the social world we are not dealing with equilibrium structures but with constant flow.

In a city there is no normal state to which one can return. And those who are affected by it natural dangers– say, a coastal metropolis prone to flooding – were vulnerable from the start. A return to an original state is therefore as undesirable as it is impossible. Instead, cities adapt.

The problem with rebounding

In a broader sense, thinking about resilience applies inherently conservative. With the emphasis on recreation, it highlights reactive and short-term solutions. These distract from the need to address the root causes of major challenges like climate change.

Nor is it as innocuous a theory as it may seem. If politicians insist that investing in a more resilient city is just common sense, then often downplay Power issues and inequality. New Orleans is a case in point. Reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was killed enormous social costswhen the city privileged economic gain over the needs of marginalized communities.

Nevertheless, resilience is an elastic term and is increasingly associated not only with the ability to recover after a setback, but also jump forward– in a new and better condition. The British Government’s slogan “Build better“Has become the mantra for countless post-COVID ambitions, especially regarding to tourism.

That is, since the travel restrictions are lifted and the Cruise ships are returning to St. Mark’s Square in Venice, just a few weeks after Italian government promised You wouldn’t, it looks like this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink tourism has been lost.

Governments in general seem more interested in going back to business than in thinking about it how much tourism we can actually afford it. Calls to come along do, less exploitative Model has met with a subdued political response at best. Governments appear disgust to discourage business travel, despite Climate scientist advocate less air travel because they make money.

The pandemic has emptied St. Mark’s Square in Venice. [Photo: GlobalP/iStock]

Complex resilience

Any attempt to make tourism truly resilient, however, must go beyond short-term economic recovery. It has to appeal to the tourism industry Carbon footprint and be Injustices and ethical constraints.

Insofar as Amsterdam presents an interesting model. COVID accelerated the implementation of several considered measures long before the pandemic broke out. The city has enacted ordinances that in various ways prevent souvenir shops from crowding out local businesses, developers turning homes into vacation rentals, and building new hotels.

Elsewhere, tourists’ overnight taxes have been raised and measures have been introduced to reduce the so-called inconveniences (littering, urinating in public) they leave behind thoughtlessly.

In a broader sense, it is the first city ever hugging British economist Kate Raworth Donut economic model for sustainable development. This theory focuses on the environment and the basic needs of citizens as opposed to economic growth. The Council is committed to using it as a guideline for all future policies that rule urban life—From emissions regulations to addressing the city’s housing shortage.

It is too early to see whether these efforts will pay off. Without a similar courageous rethinking, however, more residents will be probably rebel against the touristification of their communities. If, on the other hand, more cities follow the example of the Dutch capital (like Copenhagen, Brussels, Dunedin in New Zealand and Nanaimo in Canada), the idea of ​​a real recovery might actually apply.

Johannes Novy is Senior Lecturer for Urban Design, Faculty of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster.