Hi! This is really an important issue in the current context. more research works are necessary on how human psychology can be affected due to online deliveries. if there is any ongoing research on this topic, I would love to join! Thanks

I have been doing e-learning for the past 20 years and from experience I can tell you a couple of things:

1) Most learning can be easily transferred online

2) Teachers/tutors/lecturers need training and support to do the transition

3) The biggest problem is convincing teachers/tutors/lecturers to adopt the method and not technology

4) Teaching online is NOT transferring what you do in class onto a virtual space. E-learning has its own pedagogy and methodology that needs to be learned, hence issue 2 above is very important.

5) Face-to-face learning is till very valid but not always valid or needed.

Hi Jorge Marques ,

I also agree with Shamima Raihan Manzoor Tania on the importance of the issue you are raising in the current context. From my side, I am concerned about the mobility feature of tourism, which has proven to be not only unreliable due to global threats (pandemics, overtourism, terrorism, climate change etc...), but also unfair because of travel restrictions experienced by many nations in view of their level of development (e.g., global south) or their religion (Muslim travel bans). These pressing environmental, socio-economic, and geopolitical concerns call for a change which can be driven by the virtual space.

Unfortunately, conferences are not just a gathering with the aim of sharing ideas. They are also an escape from the office, thus a holiday trips for most. The proof is noticeable from the advertised post conference tour, the beautiful cities in which they take place, and the dropping attendance on the second or 3rd day of the event. These are important factors which imply that the socio-psychological push and pull factors which drive tourist [conference attendees] behavior are strongly attached to physical presence, which in turn generates a demand for hospitality facilities.

I am providing you with a link to a paper I have recently published. It addresses the same issue of physical mobility, but from the perspective of scale development in tourism. Specifically, it deals with the common feedback many tourism researchers obtain during the assessment of their studies' methodology: "as a tourist study, it is expected for respondents to have travel experience". The paper provides an inbound approach to travel experience which is supported by arguments of virtual reality, globalization, and a debate on suicide tourism which involves the physical body and the importance of consciousness in tourism consumption. I hope this paper can provide a different lens to your argument and enrich your study.

Stay safe, and all the best.

Kimo

Link:

Article Sampling for All: An Inbound Approach to Travel Experience

Citation:

Boukamba, K. H. (2020). Sampling for All : An Inbound Approach to Travel Experience. Tourism Studies, 22, 61–70. Doi:10.19002/AA12438820.22.61

H. Kimo Boukamba ,Thank you for your comment and article.

Shamima Raihan Manzoor Tania and Martin G. Debattista thank you for your perspectives.

Over the last years I've been working on this topics related to Business Tourism and destination attractiveness. In this market, not only the business events and business opportunities are important, but also destination attractiveness plays a very important role, in my perspective. That's why DMO are marketing tourist attractiveness to get the attention of events organizers.

The current study I'm developing about this topic: https://forms.gle/zNCpYQRYWWHNir3Y8

Dear Jorge

Many people will get used to remote communication technologies (videoconferences, webinar, etc.). Most probably they will partially replace the need to hold face-to-face events in the future. The meetings and conference organizers will have to be more creative in order to make people feel that it is worth to attend the event in person/physically. Best wishes, Vitor Ambrósio

Vitor Ambrosio thank you very much for your comment. Yes, indeed more efforts from meetings and conference organizers will be needed. But also, destinations (DMO) must work harder to revitalize this specific market. In my perspective, the importance of physical event participation goes beyond the event itself...the experience in event participation and also the touristic opportunities and possibility to get to know the destination is very important and can be worked as a marketing strategy.

No, Totalmente no, podría ser un 50%, en la administración tradicional el hombre ha sido frío con sentimientos duros, simplemente le interesaba rendimiento, de igual la tecnología soluciona no presencial, pero es frío, no soluciona el aspecto conductual, presencial afectuoso, de palpar, de sentimientos, no soluciona convencimientos internas, pero si funciona para aspectos de toma de decisiones de consumismo, publicidad, marketing, comunicaciones urgentes, etc,..

Juan Carlos Apaza Paucara thank you for your comment.

Information exchange is one thing. Personal F2F communication is another thing. The latter cannot be replaced, as my preliminary findings show. I'm conducting a 2. wave of "Coping strategies with Covid-19" (http://covid-19-coping.uni.lu/) where I ask questions on communication and social interactions. People need the emotional component, so I don't think that F2F will be replaced completely.