Barcelona, Hawaii, Venice – just three years ago, these and further places were struggling with the consequences of disproportionate tourism, with overtourism. Then the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything. Global tourism came to a standstill. The upside: Our cities had time to breathe again and with them their inhabitants. What impact did the Covid-19 have on tourism in our cities? What can we learn from these past experiences for the future? In discussions with mayors of international metropolises, CEOs of international tourism companies such as AirBnB, TripAdvisor and AIDA as well as renowned city planners, topos 118 – Tourism After Lockdown sets out to find answers for sustainable tourism that does not cause eight percent of global CO2 emissions.

What a crazy time! The pandemic is still raging around the world. After about two years of cuts and abandonment, more countries are nevertheless coming to the conclusion to relax Covid measures, sometimes drastically.

Solutions for sustainable tourism after lockdown

It is time for global tourism to develop a new identity. After lockdown, will we ever be able to travel as we did before? What will the tourism of the future look like? How do we deal with the problems of overtourism in cities and regions? There are many question around tourism, and answers as well as solutions are unfortunately not yet sufficiently apparent in many places. For cities, the endless crowds of visitors were a real problem before Covid. Now it is a question of reactivating tourism in a way that is not only environmentally friendly, but also compatible with the inhabitants.

What approaches are cities like Barcelona, Venice and Bangkok taking? How do Iceland and Hawaii want to deal with overtourism and what influence does social media have on tourist crowds? Of course, in this issue of topos – Tourism After Lockdown, we are not just looking at ideas on how to deal with overtourism but trying to identify real solutions for sustainable tourism after lockdown for the cities of the future.

Tourism After Lockdown

Some may wonder what topos magazine has to do with tourism. This question can be answered quite simply. Almost every metropolis on this planet has to deal with the effects of an ever-growing traveling crowd. Too many visitors can displace the inhabitants of cities and unfortunately often leave a swathe of devastation in their wake. Apparently, many people care more about producing memories than immersing themselves in foreign cultures or societies.

Thus, whole areas of cities become more difficult for residents to access and swathes of land are destroyed. With topos, we want to look at future life in the sustainable city and discuss the responsibility of planners and city makers such as mayors and city councils, but also the social responsibility of companies in this. We want to play a part in answering the questions of overtourism.

The elephant in the room

Now is the time to make tourism more sustainable. First and foremost, cities need to deal differently with visitor flows and develop new mobility concepts. Cities will also have to bring residents and tourists together. The city of the future offers space for everyone. We all carry part of the responsibility and must make our cities more liveable. Deplorable conditions and a lack of innovation must be overcome. We will all have a say in what the final solutions to overtourism issues look like. But if we do not manage to find a new way of dealing with urban tourism now, after the numerous lockdown phases, it will be difficult to develop solutions later.

This topos is about addressing the elephant in the room and showing how it can work. Enjoy reading.

Get the topos 118 – tourism after lockdown here.

You missed our previous issue? No problem, just read here the editorial of our first guest-curated issue of topos magazine – published with West 8 – and get your topos 117.