Resilient Tourism and recreation
Where the mind goes-energy flows - the yoga tutors say. Attention is a great resource in our information overload era - helping us withstand or surrender external agendas. So our decisions to retreat from “the everyday” get an additional value of focus - as we travel and spend our resources on leisure. The art of drawing our curiosity while meeting basic needs of comfort and uncertainty - is the key of the tourism industry. Another key is wired deeply in our genes - as homo sapiens are nomads by design. There are many interesting books about the “new great migration” elaborating on this concept (to begin with - Gaia Vince, Sonia Shah, and Parag Khanna).
Talking of the shores - the main reasons drawing us to spend some free time there are their culture, their nature, and our strive for interaction with them. Tourism gets to be increasingly interactive as we look for the ways to explore and co-create. The changes that the industry has gone through after the pandemic brought a new revival of awareness - this is how resilient tourism started to grow. The UNEP defines it as tourism that strengthens the ability of local communities, businesses, and destinations to adapt and recover from the crises such as natural disasters, pandemics, or economic shocks.
These are some types of resilient tourism activities drawing people to the shores according to UNWTO:
Coastal heritage tourism - conservation and restoration of places of memory. A good example of this is Essaouira, Morocco, where preserving the historic port promoted learning the history, culture, and traditions.
Nature-based - focused on ecosystems, such as national parks, wildlife reserves, and ecotourism destinations.
Adventure tourism - hiking, surfing, sailing, and other exploration promoting awareness and cultural exchange in remote and sensitive areas.
Health and wellness - retreats and mindfulness activities encouraging holistic approaches to well-being.
Educational tourism - learning by traveling to conferences, museums, or educational programs. It`s becoming increasingly popular, and UNEP highlights its potential to raise awareness and understanding of environment and remote cultures, thus bringing mitual understanding.
Among many coastal economies tour’n’ rec has a special place - as well as water has the special place among other destinations . And as diverse, as it can be - we`d like to see the spirit unchanged. It is challenging to change all the industry for the lower impact, though the curiosity is a great driver. To exploring the world beyond our everydays, to co-create it, and to mitigate the conflicts. And the programs to support mindful practices emerge already - which we’ll discuss soon.
