124The Future of Tourism and Hospitality (?)

Abstract

This chapter discusses future impacts on tourism, the impacts of tourism on people, society and destinations, the continuation of the human quest and demand for the 'new' and personal fulfilment that will fuel tourism supply, and the response of the tourism industry/academic community regarding forthcoming tourism-related issues, challenges and changes. First, through the evolution of tourism throughout the years, we have discussed in previous chapters how tourism was affected by different impacts such as global wars, pandemics, economic crises or natural disasters. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that such external influences will continue to affect the tourism industry and continue to shape its operations. Climatic change is another challenge that will affect the tourism industry. Second, we have examined how tourist inflows, tourism development and tourism activity affect destinations both positively and negatively. The lack of tourist inflows may also bring its share of impacts, as the world experienced through the recent pandemic. In all likelihood, sustainability issues will continue to remain a challenge in the future for both the tourism academic community and the tourism industry as a whole.