COVID-19 has profound impacts on every aspect of human society, with case numbers reported in real time; frustrating news published by media agencies or clickbaits on social media; and human activities changed or limited. Economic activities are plummeting or fluctuating around the globe. Some sectors in the market quickly recovered and surged, while some didn’t, based on each industry’s market resilience. Global tourism and events industry, which is still at the bottom, was crippled, including community festivals, conferences, sports events, and so on.
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that only one of 358 festivals, which was scheduled to hold in early 2020, succeeded to hold. Most of them were postponed to late 2020, which ended up being scaled back or suspended amid COVID-19 spikes. One officer from the local government, whom I met at Korea’s Best Festival Show at Busan from July 9 to 11, said that it is reluctant to title the events they hold including the term ‘festival’. “Because we see the confirmed cases spike these days, we get away from using the terms which can seem to attract gatherings of many citizens,” she explained.
A festival plays a role as a mechanism for strengthening communities through providing opportunities for shared, collective action and experiences. Boundaries between its genres have blurred these days, with festivals including conferences or B2B meetings; sports events incorporating cultural programs; and educational and business events made more festive. Community events are, particularly, used by local government and other stakeholders to revitalize rural communities, and these events become tourism products staged for commercial purposes, thus making substantial contributions to regional economies. They improve communication and develop networks across the community, attracting visitors including diverse and socially excluded groups into the area. Festival or event attendance builds social capital, which is the outcome of the inclusion of an individual in a range of networks, structures or groups, by promoting social cohesion and by giving an opportunity for public celebration.
Throughout the pandemic, however, businesses and governments are struggling to solve competing priorities simultaneously. The toughest one is how to keep an economy going while at the same time shutting it down to protect citizens from infection, since the dispersion of infectious diseases is mainly driven by the human movement. As the outbreak of pandemic swept across the world and social distancing policies were implemented in many countries, it is hampering the development of social capital. Many regional and rural economies in Korea are confronting serious economic decline. After the pandemic, small towns, which depended on income from its tourism or events industry, are suffering from considerable economic development challenges, including dwindling populations, limited employment opportunities, and a decline in the traditional agricultural sector.
Then, what events or festivals might look like during and after the pandemic? While we are still trying to grasp what is going on, with most of us currently in quarantine or lockdown, we are simultaneously attempting to understand what this may mean for the future of the events industry and society as a whole. The South Korean government is currently coping with two critical issues in terms of managing the tourism sector: leveraging the benefits of the digital transformation and implementing sustainable tourism policies.
As technology continues to advance at a fast pace and is a game-changer for tourism or events businesses and policy makers alike, the rapid developments in social media contents, virtual and augmented reality applications,and artificial intelligence are likely to influence tourism products, business models, services, and visitor choices. Most Korean festivals are held in the form of ‘hybrid’ which means that the event is held simultaneously online and offline. People can easily access digital content and enjoy the festivals indirectly through a mobile environment. Director Dong-sok Choi from the domestic marketing team in Gangwon Tourism Organization, whom I met in the aforementioned, at Busan, also explained that the organization is focusing on digital transformation of tourism contents to revitalize the region’s tourism and events industry. Likewise, it is crucial time for the government to play an important role in creating the right conditions for all businesses to engage in the digital transformation of tourism. Furthermore, a sustainable policy for the industry is needed to ensure its resilience in the face of crises of such magnitude as the pandemic.
Festivals have become a part of the cultural fabric of global society. Tourism and events play a significant role in regional strategies that seek to encourage economic diversification and tap into potential localized economic opportunities. It is a grand challenge to forecast the future trajectories of the outbreak, simulate potential policy scenarios, and predict the consequences of reopening the economy. Although there are some of the limitations and concerns related to technology, such as threats to data security and identity, they are improving how events are planned, designed, and evaluated. Virtual events have also been fueled by the fact that people around the globe are better equipped with mobile devices.
These productive discussions are expected to spur to find the courage and creativity to take this crisis as an opportunity to dare and re-imagine post-corona events and festivals. More sophisticated solutions to plan for more inclusivity and accessibility – whether it’s an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event – are needed for better leap in a tourism and event industry.
Kayla Hong
Asia Journal
