It’s Temporary Normal, Not New Normal

The corona virus currently smothering the whole world has caused the germination of new social and economic concepts that seem to hypnotize everybody towards a common tunnel vision.

Since this article anchors on the travel and tourism industry, I will try to focus on that. But really, this can be used for any other industry.

One of the often-used terms now is New Normal. It is understandable, actually. Because the virus has virtually shaken everything that decades or centuries of social and economic norms most people have been used to live with. In the current state of the pandemic, hand shaking, hugging or talking with friends in some unprotected venues such as parks, cafes or even the streets have become unthinkable. The way businesses and movements are conducted are now constricted, very constricted to the point that people accept that it would take them so many hours to personally attend to a business compared to just a few minutes to complete the same task just a few months ago.

Government entities, private companies and even individuals are on a constant lookout on how to implement a “new normal” during and after the pandemic.

But the thing closer to reality is, that new normal may no longer exist after the pandemic. The reasons are simple and clear. The motivations to provide the basic necessities for the workers and profits to the businessmen do not change. They all need to earn money, provide food on the table, and fulfill every layer you can see in Maslow’s pyramid. Thus, the same cogs and sprockets of the old will move according to what they were made for even in the future.

New normal adaptations to the pandemic will only happen while the threat of infection is still there, and the trauma lingers for a short term after the pandemic. Soon after, the usual concepts, goals, objectives and whatever reasons that can be conjured for economy’s sake will eventually take over those normal things. New normal will no longer be romanticized and may even be abhorred due to the really bad memories it was founded on. While some may become permanent or be generally accepted (like barriers for personalized transactions), most of the new normal innovations will actually be temporary.

These are some of the things to consider in understanding the temporary normal.

Efficiency 
Every business, whether product or service-based, is hinged on efficiency. Every step of the process has a corresponding human or machine component to complete that process. Anything that would disrupt that process will eventually affect the efficiency of the business. Unfortunately, disruptions may be caused by precautionary measures that have been included during the pandemic. A classic example of this includes working from home instead of being physically present in the office. For so many businesses like hotels and tourist transport, the only way to be efficient is to have the right number of people reporting for duty. Work from home is not an option on ordinary days.

Optimized Resource
Everything costs money. Every resource has to be paid for. There are outstanding loans and salaries to pay. While social distancing works well in open spaces, it will not be so in revenue-oriented facilities and services. Buses, planes and trains will have to be optimally filled up in order to remain in business. Empty spaces mean lost revenues.

Profit
Whether one is an oligarch or a struggling entrepreneur, profits will have to be made in order to keep the vocation interesting and worthy. Besides, most businesses have lost big time during months of lockdown and they have to recover their lost profits, if they still can.

Salary
The ordinary Juans and Marias will continue grabbing on to whatever job can give them salaries. And they are in the millions. That is an inconvenient truth.

It won’t be without basis that the new normal would just be like watching a meteor that captures everyone’s attention, but the light show lasts only for a brief moment. There are actually a good number of benchmarks where responses to a pandemic morphed from panic to ground-braking innovations, then back to old, usual things.  It took only a few months for SARS to be forgotten, the MERSCOV is still out there, and H1N1 is still airborne (literally). Yet, there is hardly anyone (but there should be a few) who can recall what new normal things are still being practiced as a result of those past scares.

It is so important that we recognize that the New Normal is actually more of a Temporary Normal because we may be deceived into believing in a future that could become more inefficient and even destructive. Private entities have their core business competencies. Airlines (at least those that will survive) will function as such and demand that their planes fly efficiently and optimally. Hotels and resort have to achieve break-even occupancy in order to keep breathing. 

Businesses and politicians will keep asking the question, “are we done, yet?” and push for the normalization of societies like the pandemic never happened before. Unfortunately, science will again be overshadowed by hunger and all those human needs.

We might be spending a good amount of resources for some new normal programs that may not be useful or appreciated once the pandemic is over.

We have to be ready for the snapback and recognize that most will go back to the old ways. Because the motivations to earn and consume have not changed. When the temporary normal eventually expires,  people will go back putting pressure on the limited spaces and resources. Business entities will go back to what they were good at (you know what I mean). Beaches will still get filled with hordes of people, forests trampled, and cultures trivialized. It will be like the pandemic never happened.

Do not focus on the “new normal” as it will be fleeting. Be ready and plan out for the eventual snapback. 


By:
Caloy Libosada Jr.