SHAPING WITH PURPOSE
Shaping with Purpose. - Conclusion #DCHH20
#DCHH20 has concluded; nearly 200 tourism professionals, hosts, service providers, and organizational representatives are on their way back to their workplaces.
"Shaping with purpose" is the overarching conclusion from 18 sessions and 6 scenario workshops of the 10th DestinationCamp in Hamburg. At the Bahrenfeld harness racing track, the organizer, the consulting company netzvitamine GmbH, found sufficiently large premises to host the first major industry meeting after the canceled ITB in an "analog" space, even while adhering to Corona-related safety requirements.
The conclusion of last year's DestinationCamp, and thus the main theme of the current one, was "Challenge accepted". However, the extent of the challenges in tourism following Corona was not foreseeable in May 2019. Since then, the pandemic has shaken many certainties, nullified strategies and plans, triggered fears and uncertainties, and given the motto a particular urgency.
TOURISM POLARIZES.
Many of the 24 workshops and 3 plenary sessions held from September 29 to October 1, 2020, highlighted a clear shift in tourism. Rather than focusing on linear solution strategies and, at best, win-win approaches, there is a growing awareness of polarities. Post-Corona, tourism must reposition itself, navigating between proximity and distance, trust and control, freedom and constraint, and profit-seeking versus sustainability. One key takeaway is that further growth cannot occur without costs or adverse effects on the common good.
So, what is to be done? Above all, *something*! Don't allow paralysis. Perfect solutions don't exist, and striving for perfection can sometimes hinder necessary action. But what is needed to ensure action doesn't devolve into mere activism? Feedback from numerous discussions and conversations revealed: We need a clear stance, the courage to act, and an awareness that every action must always navigate various poles, without ever eliminating them.
You cannot inhale and exhale simultaneously, and focusing solely on one or the other is equally impossible.
The key takeaway from DestinationCamp 2020, and thus the motto for the 11th DSTNCMP from April 20 to 22, 2021, is: Shape with conviction. The findings from this year's DestinationCamp will be compiled and are expected to be published before Christmas.