Sounding Off: Collaboration has to be more than a political buzzword

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered on our site that week.

Because the future of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry, the global economy and the aspirations of people who have an ingrained need to see their world is so important, we know the "recovery" will be administered perfectly.

Travel brands, tech providers, industry groups and governments will have no hesitation in working together for the greater good - there's too much at stake.

And, now, back to the real world.

The aforementioned protagonists know they need to put their differences aside and figure out what's best to pull the sector out of the depressed world that it finds itself in.

They are able to do this, in theory, working alongside one another, listening to scientists to guide them and making decisions that benefit all stakeholders and keep travelers safe.

But the deep concern with any of this almost Utopian thinking, even when it's for the greater good, is that business and politics are going to interfere.

Business decisions are often made through a process that has self-preservation coming first, with what's best for everyone else a distant second.

During the normal course of events, this is normal and accepted.

We're not in one of those period in the industry's history now, as we all know.

Despite this pandemic, at its heart, being nothing other than a health emergency that is catastrophic for millions of people, politics is impacting in a devastating way in the recovery process.

Indeed, "playing politics" with the recovery is not something that is likely to ensure that it runs smoothly, let alone collaboratively.

A U.S. presidential election looms later this year, so we can guarantee that politics is going to continue to set the agenda that travel's recovery must grapple with. Whether the industry and non-U.S. countries like or not, this is a huge factor that will determine the course of the next few months. 

It is within that framework that we hope that smart thinking prevails and collaboration remains possible.