TravTalk India Online Magazine
Year 2020, when the travel trade had to not only bear the effects of a pandemic but also learn from it, is finally drawing to a close. Here, they share some of the biggest learnings to be remembered by generations…
Homa Mistry, CEO, Trail Blazer Tours
The biggest learning has been how to survive by reducing expenses.
However, there were many pending issues, which in our day-to-day life and corporate world we are unable to do, like product training for our own staff, which we have never given before. Secondly, a lot of work has happened on the IT front to make things more standardised, faster, sanitised, look and feel better. There is a lot of work that has happened in the back office. We were not able to do a lot of things, but we have been able to achieve a lot during this period.
Sandeep Dwivedi, COO, ITQ
I can list three learnings from 2020: first, aviation is a fundamentally strong industry depicted in the fact that a pandemic-level disruption was required to bring it to an absolute standstill. Second, innovations thrive in disruptions, that is, when the core foundation is shaken, either you struggle to survive underneath the debris or find innovative methods to emerge stronger. Finally, it is best to be a future-oriented organisation with a dedicated committee to constantly analyse the plausible risks for the short, medium and long term, and develop solid risk-aversion techniques.
EM Najeeb, Senior VP, IATO
We are still not sure if there is going to be a normal, a new normal, or is it going to be worse. Hence, we can’t predict anything. Europe and UK are under lockdown for the second time. However, lockdown is not the answer. We are already telling the government that we need to plan differently and make sure that life is smooth and normal. In tourism, thousands of experienced professionals are jobless and struggling to survive. This unexpected new normal has given us several hard lessons in preparing for survival and revival in the next few months or years.
Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH
The biggest learning of 2020 has been how to face unprecedented crisis. Those who have survived this crisis can survive any situation. We have also learnt that many things we used to travel for physically can now be done virtually. Hence, technology has played a very important role. Even though 2020 can be called the worst year in history, it can also be called a year of digital revolution because virtual conferences are taking place like never before. The third lesson is not to keep all your eggs in one basket. All of us must diversify and have a secondary source of income.
Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI
COVID has proved that health is most important. Another thing I have learnt is that cash is very important and we need to save for a rainy day. Though we were taught this when growing up, we have somehow forgotten it in our way of life. Another big thing that has come out of 2020 is that we do not look into our ways of working, business structure, contracts, etc., but we only follow the flow and keep doing business without realising its impact and what to do if it comes to a dead-end like it did this year. A positive from the pandemic is unity—among associations and within our association.
K Pandian, Founder & Chairman, Cholan Tours
In 2020, we have had continuous learning every month, every week and every day. However, I think 2021 is not going to be any better as the predictions look similar. It is not going to pick up. Already, 2020 has gone from the tourism map and we are looking at 2022. In the New Year there will be some business, but nothing like what we have done in the past. Even now we are doing some business, but we used to do 200 arrivals in a day before COVID-19. We can’t tell when people would be able to travel without any rules and when the vaccine would be available.
Ravi Gosain, MD, Erco Travels
In terms of business, the biggest learning is that we should always explore other avenues. Sometimes, travel companies have extravagant expenses like marketing, freebies, giving credits, exploiting the suppliers, and giving unnecessary benefits to customers. All this will end, I hope, because it only reduces margins and in such a situation you stand nowhere. Hence, in 2021, I am sure the market will correct and I think operators will have a possibility and responsibility among themselves because many of us will be out of business. Hence, it is necessary to work in a sustainable way.
Lajpat Rai, MD, Lotus Trans Travels
The biggest learning from 2020 is that one must always have some budget for bad times. Anyone should at least have a year’s budget as saving, irrespective of what one is doing, so that if anything happens, one can run the company and pay the staff for that period. The same holds true on the home front. We need to have enough savings to be able to run our home for a minimum of one year. While the government is coming up with different policies and offers, everything they are giving is in loans, which itself are not easy to take.
Deepak Bhatnagar, MD, Aamantaran Travels
In my opinion, the biggest learning from year 2020 has been that the unexpected can happen any time, so it is always a good idea to keep yourself prepared to deal with the situation both economically and emotionally. The
COVID-19 pandemic has left a terrible mark on people and their livelihoods. It is safe to say that everyone in the country, and the world, has been looking forward to saying adieu to this pandemic and be able to restart business, while also being able to live life the way we know how to.
Jatinder Taneja, Vice Chairman, PATA India Chapter
For me, the biggest learning from the pandemic, undoubtedly, has been that we are working in the most fragile industry. Travel and tourism was the first to face the biggest impact in such a situation and absolutely the last one to recover. Also, it is a must to have a second line of business to survive in such scenarios. Another important thing we have learned is that you can’t depend on the government’s support. During the most challenging times the industry faced, no help came from the government. Even our due, the SEIS incentive, has not been released till date.
Sunil Talreja, VP-Sales, InterGlobe Air Transport
I believe that year 2020 has taught us to value life, while also teaching us the value of human connection. That said, in my opinion, travel and tourism will bounce back only once the vaccine is released. As we all know, domestic tourism will pick up first, which will be followed by short-haul international destinations. According to me, as things open up further and the year progresses, corporate travel will also resume slowly, but it will grow in future, as the value of human interaction cannot be replaced by virtual meetings.
Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara
This unprecedented crisis has made us all realise the volatility of the world we live in. As an airline, our biggest takeaway from the year is the importance of being agile, to be able to adapt to the changing business environment as well as the readiness to leverage every new opportunity that comes our way. At Vistara, we have tried to remain nimble in our approach since inception, which has helped us in many ways. While we have had to make temporary changes, we remain committed to our long-term strategy of densifying our domestic network while expanding globally.
Alex McEwan, Country Manager – India, Virgin Atlantic
What we have learnt this year is what an essential industry aviation is in terms of connecting people across the world. I think that the lack of the same and the restrictions we faced this year have amplified how important the industry is to our day-to-day lives, and how important it is to make sure that business continues and the person-to-person connection continues. We have realised how resilient this industry can be, thanks to the incredible people who are involved in it. We are ready to recover and take on the opportunities that 2021 will bring.
Vikas Suri, Sr. AVP, Lords Hotels & Resorts
There have been many learnings in the past few months. Firstly, safety and hygiene are in the forefront and here to stay. One can face the crisis better as a team. We brainstormed at all levels to find ways to tackle the crisis. We scaled down our expenses, created new SOPs and discovered new ways of efficiently running operations. New avenues of revenue were explored, and the team was trained to multitask and to take up additional responsibilities. Personally, the biggest learning has been that health should be above everything else.
Kuldip Sondhi, Partner, Sondhi Travels
I believe that one should have multiple products, and no one should rely on one particular segment like cruises or flights or domestic tourism. Today, those who were totally dependent on international travel do not have business at all. International business is on pause and domestic has started coming up. If you have multiple products in your basket, there are better chances of survival in situations like this. Also, we have noticed that dealing directly with the supplier or the principal makes a lot of difference and is beneficial. The principals are happy to help you directly.
Capt Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI
The biggest learning for me in 2020 has been that don’t depend on one source market. My company and I were only dependent on adventure tourism and we never looked at domestic tourism. Today, the demand is for domestic tourism. I think, tour operators should do multiple things as everyone should have an alternative source of business. Secondly, the pandemic made us realise to learn new things, which we were not looking at. We worked on our skills. I think, we should focus more on digital marketing now.
Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI
According to me, first and foremost, the most important thing people should learn now is to stop working on tiny mark-ups in the industry. This is why people are saying that they don’t have money to survive despite working in the industry for so long. This thing can also become a roadblock for the industry if not corrected. Attempts to undercut each other have to be stopped. There have to be fair trade practices followed in the industry rather than pulling each other’s business for small margins.
PP Khanna, President, ADTOI
What we have learnt this year is that we must be prepared for everything. If anything like this happens again, we have to be ready to deal with it. Also, for our businesses, we should have enough funds to sustain ourselves and not expect any help from government, banks, colleagues or anyone in the trade. The industry had never experienced such a crisis. While there have been many ups and downs owing to demands and economy, it had never come to level zero. However, there has never been a time when there is no tourism or hospitality movement.
Guldeep Singh Sahni, MD, Weldon Tours & Travels
Year 2020 has taught us that firstly, we should be prepared for anything to happen at any time. At the same time, we should be prepared for our companies to keep running during such an eventuality. On the ground, I think everybody should be selling everything, whether it’s outbound, inbound, domestic or anything else. Today, everyone should have expertise and clientele of every kind to survive. Then, if such times do come, we should have backup to run our companies and not fall apart at the time of a crisis.
Kanika Tekriwal, CEO & Founder, JetSetGo Aviation
Starting from ensuring we have enough funds to ensure employees’ salaries are given on time to revamping our Standard Operating Proceures (SOPs) according to guidelines and business profitability, and from continuing to fly safely to ensuring we lift ourselves up irrespective of the industrial and economic slowdown are some of the biggest learnings. Now that I look behind, it was quite an eventful journey. This year, the two biggest learnings for me were perseverance and empathy. It is important not to give up easily.
Inputs by TT Bureau
