Tourism is endowed with core resistance

Job in Tourism started its activity five years ago, and during this period had acquired growing visibility and attracted increasing attention from tourism operators. Devised to be an operating tool, in combination with updates and editorial information, it has its strong point in allowing to match the demand and supply of jobs in the field of tourism. The number of published classifieds has been rising steadily, and in September last year – before the 11th, a date which is still close and yet feels so far away, in a world that felt optimistic and had bright prospects – the number of advertisers had run up remarkably. The Twin Towers tragedy came as a cold shower; business ground to a halt, fear took hold of people’s minds, and work seemed to be hanging in the balance, everybody holding their breath in uncertainty. Certainties have not reappeared, but life goes on nonetheless, and companies have cautiously resumed hiring personnel, one eye on the barometer (the weather has been inclement this year) and one eye on the TV, wondering about Bush’s decisions. Reflecting the industry trend, the work of Job in Tourism has again started to grow – at a lower rate than had been expected, but still a satisfactory one in a generally unfavourable economic context. This year, when we resumed publishing after the customary August holiday pause, we were wondering how the system would respond to an uncertain economic scenario, where the constant presence of Bush, day in day out promising to invade Iraq, raised serious questions for those who were planning to develop their businesses or at least to preserve their previous sizes. September started in a subdued mood; the phones were quiet too much of the time, and it seemed that the recovery was starting very slowly. Suddenly, one day, Saddam decided to accept the UN inspections, and the planned U.S. police operation was postponed. Since that very day, the phone has again been ringing as in the most active periods, and I think it has not been a coincidence. The system is high-strung; an out-of-tune piece of news is enough to reconsider plans that are already under way. This logic is probably inherent in tourism, which is an intrinsically fragile business, involving significant investments and inelastic costs. These days’ evidence, however, also suggests that in spite of everything the system has its own core resistance and can, within limits, withstand external shocks which would otherwise be potentially fatal.