THE YEAR AHEAD: 2022

THE YEAR AHEAD: 2022

✦ The dominant three "C's" that affect the world: COVID-19, China and Climate Change. A perspective from Brilliant-Online.

I t is fair to say that many of us will be glad to see the back of 2021. It was a strange, turbulent year where our understanding of how society is structured and how we fit into it individually and collectively was turned upside down. We now operate in a redefined landscape, with many facets of our daily lives still clouded with uncertainty and indecision.

As 2021 enters the rear mirror, what will 2022 have in store? Here we take a look at some of the major issues that we believe will shape headlines in the year ahead. We may as well start with the one major elephant in the room that we cannot see changing in 2022: COVID-19.

As the virus enters its third year since emerging in China in 2019, it will unfortunately continue to be the central theme dominating the news and our daily lives in the 12 months ahead.

The recent Omicron strain has rattled many countries to their core and seen a series of border lockdowns and flight restrictions enforced as a result.

We still do not know for sure how serious Omicron could be but early suggestions that prior vaccinations will be rendered useless as a defence against it certainly don’t bode well.

However, expect enhanced vaccination doses and additional treatments such as antiviral pills and improved antibody treatments to become more widely available in the ongoing fight.

Meantime, travel and tourism will continue to be affected by the pandemic although hopefully not to the same extreme levels that have estimated losses of US$4 trillion in global export revenues in the last two years. Experts do not expect a return to pre-COVID-19 tourism levels until 2023 or later, however.

The workplace dynamic has changed immeasurably and we expect remote and working from home options continuing to be the norm. This works for some but doesn’t for others and suggestions that companies will adopt a hybrid of both could gain popularity as the year advances.

The space race will switch on the afterburners and go into hyperdrive as next year will be the first time when more people travel to space as paying passengers than government employees, carried aloft by rival space-tourism firms.

Likewise expect cryptocurrency to become increasingly visible in 2022 as the alternative investment class continues its journey into the mainstream.

In the sporting world, we are hopeful the domestic and global calendar can resume in full next year after a spate of cancellations and postponements. However, concerns are already arising regarding the Ashes, Aussie Open Tennis and Aussie F1, the latter of which has been absent for the last two years. On the international stage the Winter Olympics in Beijing and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will be shrouded in controversy, mainly down to human rights concerns. There have been continual calls for boycotts although ultimately we all hope the action on the field is the main focus and can emerge the winner. China has been front and centre in the news so frequently of late, more often than not for the wrong reasons. Amongst the chaos of the pandemic, Xi Jinping’s government have continued to agitate and alienate many and expect 2022 to be no different as geo-political tensions continue to build. COVID, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the South China Sea territorial disputes, human rights, trade wars, the list goes on. Could 2022 see individuals, companies and countries finally starting to decouple from the most populous country on earth?

Last but not least, climate change and the environment will once again dominate headlines next year. Mother Earth is hurting and we all know we need to act, and fast. Will positive, tangible outcomes emerge from the recent COP26 conference or will it all amount to nothing more than hot air and lip service? Whereas we do not know for sure what lies ahead, no doubt about it, 2022 will be as incident packed and eventful as previous years...

Conclusion

Quite what we make of all this and how it impacts us and our businesses is, of course, negligible at this stage as it is pure conjecture. If the past two years have taught us anything it is to expect the unexpected! Had you told someone at the back end of 2019 that a global pandemic would be unveiled only months later that would change the way we live so dramatically, you would have probably have been laughed out of the room or dismissed as someone who has watched too many far-fetched disaster movies!

However, what we do know is that we continue to take small steps forward, to safeguard ourselves and our businesses as best as possible by integrating into and leveraging the benefits of a solid community network.

COVID-19 has taught us to look after one another and ourselves and this trend will continue in 2022.

Much of the other stuff we are unable to do much about, unfortunately - all we can really do is maintain genuine hope that responsible politicians and people in power do the right thing at a time when it is so glaringly obvious that is the only option, to ensure that the future can be brighter than the past couple of torrid years.

Our modern marketing agency, Vermilion Pinstripes invited several business owners to discuss ideas for businesses in the never normal world.