SARA DOLNICAR
Professor at the University of Queensland’s Business School with expertise in tourism
What I’m working on…
If you are interested in my work, here are some short videos and articles to keep you entertained during lockdown:
- How to make families eat up everything that have taken from the breakfast buffet – reducing (unnecessary) plate waste by 34%
- How to reduce (mostly unnecessary) daily routine hotel room cleans by 63% by changing defaults
- How to get 42% of hotel guest to voluntarily waive their (mostly unnecessary) daily routine room clean
- How to reduce the use of fancy, thick cotton serviettes that have to be washed and ironed every day by 95%
If you are more into reading, here are the two short, freely accessible articles I discussed with Ginger in the podcast on tourism and COVID19:
- “Coronavirus and Airbnb – Disrupting the Disruptor” makes predictions about what with happen to Airbnb post COVID-19
- “A post-COVID-19 model of tourism and hospitality workforce resilience” proposes a new service industry employment model that gives workers more security and employers more flexibility
What I’m reading…
Kitty Flanagan’s 488 Rules for Life. Now this is a truly timeless book! You read it before COVID-19: brilliant. You read it after COVID-19: truly prophetic! For example:
Rule 110: “No bunching.” This rule originally related to air travel where people seem to lose every desire for personal space. Kitty’s rule has now taken off globally under the term ‘social distancing’. The development of the pandemic is evidence of the fact that Australian readers had a significant competitive advantage: they read Kitty’s book before readers from many European and North American countries, explaining dramatic differences in COVID-19 infection rates.
Rule 279: “Leave a courtesy buffer seat.” This rule was about creating a “seat moat” around you in the movie theatre. Now, of course, we need a personal moat around us in every aspect of life!
Rule 159: “No communal dishes of sea salt.” What can I say… prophetic!
Kitty also has plenty of excellent practical advice for family home isolation:
Rule 210: “Do not negotiate with children.”
Rule 414: “Don’t dominate the shared living spaces.”
Rules 106 and 123: “Headphones. Headphones. Headphones.”
Rule 139: “Eat like someone is watching.”
Rule 21: “The sink is not a dishwasher.”
Rule 13: “Replace the toilet roll.”
Rule 19: “Flush. Pause. Check – FPC”
What I’m watching…
There is nothing better than committing to a series during COVID-19! I personally enjoy a good dystopian series, like Divergent and the Hunger Games. But I don’t mind a bit of James Bond or Karate Kid either.
There’s lot of wisdom in Karate Kid, such as this quote on persistence and wellbeing: “Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don’t forget to breathe, very important.” And a helpful mantra during home schooling: “I say, you do, no questions.”
What I’m cooking…
Snickers mousse! The kids call it ‘The Mouse’. It tastes like Snickers, but really is more of a protein bomb, so not too bad if you can’t resist something sweet. It’s made from mainly ricotta and peanut butter
What I’m listening to…
It’s hard to go past R.E.M.’s “It’s the end of the world as we know it”.
Tune in to S1E4 of Seriously Social Planes, trains and a whole lot of pain: Tourism and COVID-1 with Sara Dolnicar and podcast host Ginger Gorman.