Yesterday was Freedom Day in Portugal. A day for which we should all be grateful, otherwise today we wouldn't even be able to be here writing about Freedom. When we put free thought into creativity, often the impossible simply happens. Because we are free from judgments because we create without limit. This is the kind of co-creation that Tourism needs now...

In his book "Creative Confidence", Tom Kelley, who believes that we all have a creative side, recalls an episode of a child who goes to the playground for the first time and wants to go down the slide. Initially, there is that discomfort, that fear of the unknown. What's going to happen. Could I get hurt? But once that fear has passed, and when you finally decide to go ahead, the sensation at the end is one of ecstasy, of contagious joy and satisfaction. And it comes back to repeat, over and over again, without fear.

The same happens today with all of us who work in Tourism. The slide symbolizes the uncertainty and unpredictability in which we live. The stairs to reach the top, the resilience and courage we need to move forward. And then comes the surprise of the descent, which we don't know what it will bring us. But it may be the same ecstatic joy as the children. The one we need to feel again when we reach our goals when we accomplish something and excel. When we vibrate with Tourism.

This is where our won Freedom comes in.

Freedom to decide which direction to take. What decisions must be taken now to guarantee the future? Not only ours but that of future generations. What legacy do we want to leave?

Freedom to think differently. There will be no new normal. Reality is in the now and it must be in the now that we must be bold and disruptive in a new way of looking at tourism. Reality demands a greater awareness of the decisions that have to be taken.

Freedom to take risks. Always in the greatest crises, the greatest opportunities also arise. A halt that forces us to review the way we were working and the high cost we were paying, without really knowing why. We don't need to do more; we need to do it differently.

Freedom to listen. Active listening to understand what the market and consumers are telling us. What are their real needs today? What are they looking for? Tourism companies will have to stop creating products that they think are good for the company. They will have to generate offers that satisfy the needs of those who consume them. A more demanding Tourist, more conscious in their decision making.

Freedom to co-create. The solution does not have to be isolated. On the contrary, it needs to be global with everyone's collaboration, in systemic and circular planning. Tourism can be the engine of other industries, just as it can receive the energy it needs from them.

Freedom to respect. Society, culture, the environment. People for People. With a holistic balance between supply and demand. In preservation and regeneration of all the elements of Tourism. In a circularity that encompasses an equitable distribution to all stakeholders without exception.

Freedom for creativity. We do not need to reinvent ourselves. We only need to return to our essence and find a creative way of sharing it with everyone. To be connected by values rather than prices. Authenticity. Singularity.

Freedom to take risks. Going down the slide may seem daunting at first, but if we don't try, we can never enjoy the sensation of the experience, nor the final contentment. We are left exactly where we are, looking at what could have been.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson "do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain". This is the time to believe in ourselves and be creative in a new Tourism, for new Tourists. Not by doing more, but by doing it better... #buildbackbetter