Into the future: Leisure, Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality

As we look into the future, the balance of work and leisure is once again emerging as a driver of the decisions that people are making. People around the world are rethinking how they work and how they live. The notion of work is being reworked and the idea of leisure and travel are being reimagined.

Changes and disruptions are demanding our attention to reconsider how we live. As the pace of climate change accelerates, attention is drawn to shifts in how we think and interact with our environments. As the chaos from COVID-19 ensues our mindsets are forced to shift and how we spend our time, and our lives are being drawn into question. As technological advances transform our existence, our outlook is being transformed and we are asked to reorganise how we do things.

The twenty-first century has emerged both as a compelling time to reflect upon our current status quo and to explore new horizons.

The world is in a constant mode of flux, in ways that we current generations have never experienced before. It is dynamic and evolving as the nature of life is on the cusp of revolutionary change, technology alters the experiential landscape, and sustainability issues demand ever-increasing attention.

The researchers in this flagship program bring international acumen from across the Asia Pacific region to assess and interpret the trends and issues confronting leisure, travel, tourism, and hospitality interests. Questions at the forefront of the investigation include:

• What are the emerging forms of leisure?
• What is the role of travel in contemporary lives? What form does it take?
• How can tourism contribute to the sustainable development of a region, capturing associated, contemporary terms such as responsible, circular, regenerative and fair?
• What approaches and products can help ensure a resilient tourism and hospitality sector?
• What are the talent and skills requirements for the future workforce in tourism and hospitality?
• What are the factors that sustain destinations and build resilience in the face of disruptive forces, such as natural disasters, human activities, pandemics and other unexpected events?

Such possibilities are set against potential and real damage to settings and societies, thus demanding quality research to forge options and directions for good, evidence-based management and leadership. Members of this ‘Leisure, Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality’ flagship group, through their research and internal and external partnerships, build knowledge of the evolving options. They explore sustainability concerns, highlighting markets and products to assist governments, communities and businesses. This mandate reveals a strong tie to the James Cook University Tropical Agenda in terms of the needs for building brighter futures for many tropical communities in the Asia Pacific and
beyond.

The flagship has three major objectives:

1. Exploring new and evolving mindsets about leisure and travel so as to identify tourism markets and hospitality practices that can contribute to sustainability.
2. Investigating innovation in leisure, travel, tourism, and hospitality practices and experiences that can help ensure the resilience of the sector, including due to natural and human-made disasters and other unexpected events.
3. Examining the talent and skills requirements for the future workforce in supporting the leisure, travel, tourism, and hospitality industry.

Useful links

Global standards for sustainable travel and tourism – the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria: Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC): Criteria, Standards, Certifications (gstcouncil.org)

The SDG Academy’s free educational resources from the world’s leading experts on sustainable development: Free educational resources from the world’s leading experts on sustainable development - SDG Academy

Hävard Utheim (2021) - How can travel contribute to achieving UN's sustainability goals? - Travelopment - Knowledge and Insights to help You Change Tourism