Vaccine Certifications and Rethinking Tourism will Re-Energize Hospitality Sector

Today, on the second day of our International Conference (IIHTTRC) organized by Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology, the keynote address was delivered by Dr. Kevser Çınar, Necmettin Erbakan University, Turkey. 

She spoke on the subject of “Vaccine Certificate and Hotel Manager’s Views: The Case of Konya.” She spoke at length about vaccine certification in the post-pandemic times and the positive and negative aspects surrounding Covid 19 vaccine certificate for travel, visa, and passport. She was worried about more than seventy percent of the world’s job sector was affected by Covid, especially from the tourism and the hospitality sector.

Her research centered on different COVID CERTIFICATIONS like COWIN, DIGITAL HEALTH PASS, IATA TRAVEL PASS AND VACCINATION CREDENTIAL INITIATIVE. She explained how these certificates have become mandatory the world over. The significance of these certifications are more relevant today as government and organizations are ensuring security to the hotels and travelers by making it mandatory for all.

She concluded by suggesting that it is important to safeguard personal and health data, establish legal guidelines, and engage/consult with different communities to be credible, thereby ensuring transparency.

Our Second International Keynote Speaker, Dr. L.ucilia Cardoso, Researcher of CITUR - Centre for Tourism Research, Development and Innovation, Portugal, deliberated on the much relevant topic of "'Re-think and Re-build Tourism and Hospitality through Neuro-tourism Research"

She began her keynote by the concept of rethinking of tourism. This concept has been around since 2017 for sustainable and socially inclusive growth. She emphasized that in 2021, the UN Chief said “This is the time to rethink, transform and safely restart tourism.”

Her research paper proposed an idea for neuroscience and tourism to work together by understanding people’s decision-making processes. She mentioned the Butterfly Effect, which influences people’s theoretical mind and perception from the surroundings and typically affects the ideal image of a travel destination.

Dr. Cardoso stressed on the factor of implementing the vision of an ideal tourist destination into the minds of the tourists and the locals. According to her, the travel cycle can be divided into four stages being: Need Stage, Motivation Stage, Action Stage, and the Satisfaction Need Stage. Neuroscience can be applied from the first stage which can then be followed to the end.

In her research, she has concluded that the image of the ideal destination lasts for about 7 seconds in our minds. This takes place through many factors from our surroundings and can affect the memory or image which then turns into long-term memory and generates a need for a travel destination. 

In her view, neuro-marketing can be applied to tourism and used to stimulate cognitive load and visual attention to generate motivation and arousal towards the destination. The tourism sector and its understanding is in the need of a new discipline and Neuro Tourism is one of those disciplines that can enhance the tourism sector