Sustainable Tourism Post Covid-19

Reading through this Guardian article on Barcelona without the tourists, it’s crazy to think of the new reality we all find ourselves in, post the outbreak of Covid-19.

This is especially true for the tourism industry, in Spain, here in the UK and Ireland, and just about everywhere else around the world.

Hit Pause

I’ve been lucky enough to work in, and then with, the tourism industry and various tourism businesses and projects, since 2014 up until now. It’s an exciting industry, and an enjoyable one for a marketeer.

Every year felt the same. The drive for growth is/was insatiable, and it was a common catchphrase at annual Tourism Ireland conferences that the dial reverts to zero every year on January 1st, with the aim being more visitors and tourists than ever before.

Now everyone, from top to bottom has had to hit pause.

Cities like Barcelona, with 2 million residents, have witnessed approximately 30 million annual visitors disappear in a flash.

Belfast, Dublin, Galway, the Causeway Coast, and the Wild Atlantic Way have all seen exactly the same, and just as the new season was due to start.

Tourism Post Covid-19

For the most part, nobody has questioned the various lockdowns. Everybody has understood what is required.

Despite that, from a tourism perspective, it has been devastating and the ramifications will most likely ripple for many years to come. It’s hard to envisage pre-Coronavirus travelling on the same scale, at least in the short to mid-term.

However, that doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing.

Both Barcelona and Amsterdam, two major European tourism hubs, are said to be reevaluating their cities, with a greater focus on the wellbeing and experiences of local people and local tourists, after all of this has begun to pass.

One local Amsterdam resident took his children to the historic Wallen district (also known as the red light district), now minus stag parties and hyped-up tourists, and called it a “memory of a lifetime”.

The same could happen here.

Local tourists could experience the Ring of Kerry in all its glory, without massive unsustainable numbers of visitors around every corner. The same can be said of Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, Dublin’s Temple Bar district and more.

Obviously every visitor is welcomed, and they are the lifeblood of the tourism industry, of jobs, and livelihoods. This isn’t about them, it’s about making it more sustainable in future when they’re welcomed back.

Post Covid-19 Tourism in Ireland

Locally, we don’t have to look too far to see the negative impact of tourism.

Countless reports charting the destruction of the world famous Dark Hedges (featured in HBO’s Game of Thrones) have appeared throughout the last half-decade, with tourism speeding up a natural process beyond repair. That’s just one attraction in one corner of the island.

Things won’t be the same for a long time, at the very least, but hopefully this forced pause will allow us to rejig the local tourism industry with a greater emphasis on sustainable experiences and memories, both for local visitors, and those who will eventually be welcomed back to our shores.

In amongst the relentless wave of bad news, it’s positive to see that the “memory of a lifetime” can still happen in 2020, and beyond.

Changing Times in Ireland's Town Centres

Earlier this week I stumbled across this photo article on The Guardian detailing the demise and disappearance of classic, quirky old Irish shop and storefronts in our town and village centres and it got me thinking.

The world is constantly changing, seemingly faster than ever before, and with the likes of voice-activated shopping, AI and the Internet of Things all in the ascendency it doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

For many, that’s a bad thing but I believe we should look towards, and search for, the positives out there.

Cause of Changes

Before we get to that, it’s worth considering the cause of the changes our centres have been experiencing over the last two decades.

Although I’ve worked on a number of Ballymena BID projects in the past (and as a result heard all kinds of reasoning for problems in our town centres) I would never claim to be an expert in this field.

However, I think the problems can be roughly divided into three: out-of-town centres, national chains and “the internet”.

You could also throw rising rates and rents, as well as a squeezing of disposable incomes, into the mix but the three major issues listed above have pulled shoppers away from town centre streets and in to massive outlets or back into their living rooms behind screens.

Major national chains closing branches and shops post-recession is the icing on the cake…

The Not to Distant Future

Pretty bleak, right? Yes and no.

There’s no doubt that our town centres are currently struggling through a transition phrase right now.

Centres throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK are littered with closed, vacant and abandoned lots but that doesn’t always have to be the case, and most likely won’t.

In the face of unlimited options more and more consumers have chosen local or different (just see your closest specialty coffee shop as an example) and I can see this trend continuing in the years to come.

In the face of 360 degrees competition, high rates and rent (which will hopefully drop when councils and landlords realise an empty lot in a dying town is worthless) and the omnipresence of the Internet – I believe we’ll see a leaner, stripped down, more adaptable retailer emerge.

Local crafters, artists, Internet-first retailers, service providers and even YouTubers or creators could fill those empty spaces and breathe life back into our town centres.

So it isn’t all lost, yet.

A Few Favourites

Finally, it wouldn’t be right to highlight the article above without picking out a few Counter Digital favourites (obviously all images credited to and owned by Trevor Finnegan) so without further ado:

A Quick Example of How Online Advertising Can Go Wrong...

One evening last week I was scrolling through my personal Instagram newsfeed, like any other night really, and something stuck out like a massive sore thumb.

As everyone knows online attention spans have plummeted over the last decade and grabbing anyone’s attention can be a seriously difficult job but Lovin Dublin caught my eye instantly. Unfortunately for them, it was for all the wrong reasons.

As I scrolled through my feed their Ulster Bank advertisement, and the comments that followed, stood out like a red herring and as you can see from the image below, the Lovin Dublin audience wasn’t happy. 

Know Your Audience

To give you some context Lovin Dublin, part of the larger Lovin Group, which also features in other cities, is a food, lifestyle and culture blog aimed at promoting all things Dublin primarily for locals to enjoy. The target audience is generally anyone from late teens through to early thirties and this is reflected in the channels they use: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc.

Despite growing into one of Ireland’s larger media brands, and generally doing a great job under founder Niall Harbison, this time they got it wrong when they thought they were executing perfectly.

On the face of it young men and women, over a range of ages from teens to those in their thirties, seem like the perfect audience for a first home advertisement but the reality in a post-financial crisis world is very different. Especially in Ireland.

Due to ridiculous mismanagement, fraud and blatant criminal behaviour during the heady days of the Celtic Tiger today’s young Irish people are extremely weary, negative or downright disdainful of banks and other bailed out financial institutions. With all of that in mind the comments in the above picture really aren’t that surprising.

Think you know your audience or marketplace? Did a little deeper.

React in Real Time

When I stumbled across the Instagram advertisement in question it had already been a few hours since it was first posted and a few hundred comments had rolled in without reply from the brand.

They eventually deleted the post completely, which probably didn’t go down too well with Ulster Bank, but the damage was already done as far as those annoyed were concerned.

An alternative approach, requiring closer monitoring, could have been to reply to angry comments and show that Ulster Bank had learned lessons from the crash, that there were stricter regulations now in place and that the bank were their to help and educate rather than steal, plunder and ruin.

Learn and Move On

This isn’t necessarily a dig at the Lovin brand or Ulster Bank, because plenty of other banks globally were far more culpable, but more a focus, and a warning for myself and anyone reading this, that things can go wrong even when you think you’ve got it just right.

A quick glance at the Lovin Dublin Instagram account will reveal that things have moved on and the majority of their followers have also either moved on or never even seen the ad in the first place. However, those that did might not come back and too many mistakes can start the hollowing out process that eventually leads brands to crumble…

As always the best thing to do is to learn and move on.

That being said, I’ll be keeping an eye out for their next ad or sponsored post…