TravTalk India Online Magazine
Ravi Gosain, Managing Director, Erco Travel and Honorary Treasurer, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), believes that inbound tourism to India might not start fully before next year. He also foresees an extreme change in how the business of travel and tourism is conducted going forward.
The COVID-19 vaccination gave us some hope for revival of the tourism and hospitality industry not only in India but across the world. It’s been almost a year that we have been out of business ideas, because this pandemic severely affected our positive and creative thoughts. However, moving forward, we all know that tourism will restart probably in the third quarter of 2021. Hence, we must regain all our energies and experiences, and put them in a direction to rebuild our businesses. Tourism revival will be a gruesome task for many of us, because we don’t know yet how many of our clients will survive or remain in tourism. A thorough, channelised planning is required and I suggest that our fellow colleagues plan their steps carefully.
I have nodoubt that in 2022, we will have surge in tourism activities and those who are ready will be the winners. Although the industry will take its own course for revival, industry associations along with Ministry of Tourism, Government of India do play an important role to uplift and facilitate tourism activities. We require clear guidelines for border opening, the visa application process, and resumption of international flights sooner to facilitate industry players to plan their business activities accordingly.
Most of the industry associations like IATO, TAAI, FHRAI and CII were chasing the government for a survival package but, unfortunately, no relief came from the exchequer. In my view, associations should keep on knocking on government doors. However, they must also work on a plan-B and come up with some guidelines or a thoughtful action project to help colleagues in the tourism business. It’s hard for an individual to come up again after remaining out of work for a year. Hence, hand holding, motivation and skill development are the needs of the hour. I am sure leaders at the helm are thinking in this direction and will take cognisance on this matter.
Additionally, I am not against virtual conferences, but more physical interaction and seminars are required in the coming days to regain confidence. Also, more patience and courage are required to win this battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, and a good thing is that we are already through most of the ‘bad phase’.
Going further, business in the future won’t be the same as what it was in the past. We all must gear up and accept the reality with lots of new SOPs in place for various segments of tourism and hospitality. Our employees need to be trained and get accustomed to a new way of doing business, which will be required to carry forward our businesses. We also need to understand the changed requirements of our customers. I think that the next one year will be the toughest to realise and operate.
