March 29, 2020
by Dr. Florian Braich – Director ABMA
The present thoughts and reflections are the result of the first weeks into the corona pandemic , arguably the pandemic of the 21st century. We do not know presently how this will end… we have no foresight but we can see clearly how our world was beginning to collapse within the month of January 2020.
The new world, the post Corona era, will slowly emerge , hopefully,in the immediate future but we can tell right now, it will look completely different in many aspects than our old pre-Corona times.
National economies are collapsing and others, more prosperous, are shutting down slowly due to social separation and other side effects of globalization.
The tourism of the past decades, the mass movement of tourist invasions, will definitely be an image of the past. From the perspective of the Chinese Corona pandemic,the mass tourism was nothing else but an open wound in many national economies on the European continent permanently reinfected by the hordes of consumer tourists. Finally the infection, medical and figurative, became too much for the system and the present collapse was initiated being at the same time also inevitable.
The immense loss of lives and sacrifices on the economic arena will be for no relevance if the Corona lesson, particularly in tourism, will not be learned, taught and incorporated into the new way of life of the post Corona world.
Mass tourism demands drastic changes and fundamental rethinking. Our proposed and long overdue change to a scientific , humane , rational and conservative NICHE TOURISM will be the single, practical cure for our collapsing tourism industry.
The market addressed by diverse national tourisms of Europe must be reprogrammed; the Far East Chinese invasion tourism will no longer be the “money bringer” into the crippled European tourism ,and it’s replacement with the TRANSATLANTIC market will become inevitable .
Of all past pandemics a great majority of them originated in China alone and not in America. Supporting the tourism infrastructure created to accommodate the Chinese masses of tourists can only be partially done by another non-european market large enough to sufficiently compensate but better educated and Western oriented – the American market. Tourists from the US understand the value of preservation, ecology, history and tradition….quintessential elements of the next generation tourism.
The Slovenian niche tourism emerges today as the ideal model – our proposed alternative – as the future savior of the European tourism.
In its unique characteristic, the niche tourism offers the ideal concept for the super specific ,financially high yielding and extremely desirable BALNEO MEDICAL tourism.
If we do understand the corona message, the lesson is imperative, the changes are mandatory but the results will be indeed life-saving for us and generations to come. The rebuilding plans and revival of the European tourism for the post-Corona world will need to be upgraded, adapted and directed into a sustainable strategy against future pandemics.
Globalization is gone – regional survival and self-reliability without devastating intrusions of pandemic spreading hordes of mass tourists will hopefully be initiated and clear thinking minds will prevail before the next pandemic will come.
Criticizing the past with today’s hindsight is totally unproductive and illogical if we do not propose a feasible alternative – THE NICHE TOURISM, THE TRANSATLANTIC TOURISM and THE BALNEO MEDICINE TOURISM are the complete pallet of total game-changing developments to replace the globalized mass tourism of the past decades.
The time to change is now and the crystallization of ideas for the new post-Corona era must happen during this present pandemic attack to have a lasting and profound impact on our new emerging world after Corona pandemics.
New ideas will develop – as we are all home protecting ourselves and our families from any human contact. In this stage of survival mode our thoughts are charged up and we can see much sharper our past mistakes and slights against logical common sense. We must assume responsibility and honestly strive to change and improve before the next pandemic.
The old Roman proverb “errare humanum est…perseverare diabolicum” (mistakes are human…. persisting in mistaking is devilish) cannot be more acute to observe now than ever if we do not want a future Corona pandemic to be the end of us all, or at least to devastate the tourism industry beyond repair and render the collapse of the regions depending on this industry beyond revival.
Palm Beach, Florida USA
Copyright ABMA March 2020