Kamal Kant Pant, director and secretary of the Indian School for Management, Catering and Nutrition in Pusa, New Delhi, cites the pandemic as an opportunity and explains how India can develop the tourism market and benefit all parties involved.
According to the latest tourism data from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international tourism fell by 900 million visitors to 1990 levels in the first ten months of 2020 compared to the same period in the previous year. This massive drop in tourism due to the pandemic could result in an economic loss of $ 2 trillion in global GDP.
As can be seen from the statistics above, Asia and the Pacific are the hardest hit geography in the world. Additionally, India was ranked as one of the global hotspots of the pandemic in the international news, with nearly 11 million COVID-19 infections. Will international tourism as we knew it soon become the norm? Will India continue to have a fair share of such tourist flows? It seems unlikely that bubble travel will become the norm worldwide. What then can the tourism and hospitality industries expect in India?
While many of us hear the door closing, there are always a few people who hear the door opening first. While the COVID-19 pandemic has nearly rocked the hospitality industry around the world, not only will the industry emerge stronger in India, largely due to its inherent 8: 1 dominance of domestic tourism and the strengths of our economy, not only will the COVID emerge stronger 19 crisis is becoming the benchmark for economies around the world. Let me explain the reasons for such an opinion in more detail. India is a subcontinent, its demographics are very diverse, and its purchasing power corresponds to the entire population of the USA, the richest country in the world. India’s tourism will not only survive but flourish in the days to come. While India accounted for only about one percent of the world’s tourism arrivals in its prime, it has generated more than double that number as a tourism source market. The purchasing power of Indian tourists makes them the countries with the highest donors in many tourist hotspots such as Singapore, Dubai, Thailand etc. The demand for such markets has been pent up for almost a year. As international travel tends to be restricted in the near future, domestic destinations must meet this demand. This is a great opportunity for the industry to create a viable alternative to popular tourist destinations visited by Indian tourists.
Travel for recreation and leisure has become a habit not only for many Indians, but also as a way of seeking much more in middle class life. It is a coincidence that the government has urged people to visit at least 15 destinations in the country by 2022, and has set itself the task of bringing many famous landmarks to global standards in terms of tourist infrastructure and amenities alone identify and develop many new promising websites for political reasons. These efforts have been accompanied by capacity building in alternative accommodation options such as private stays, farm stays and village tourism, which have been recognized as a segment that offers a comprehensive tourist experience option. The estimates of the Indian economy published by international agencies like the IMF and Fletch etc., which forecast double-digit growth in the Indian economy in the coming year, will continue to boost consumption in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
As the old saying goes, you can’t waste a crisis. COVID-19 was the type of crisis many generations would experience in their lives. This has also given us the opportunity to see ourselves as human beings and do a reality check to re-prioritize things in our lives. The uncertainty of life during these times has led people to prioritize and remain connected to the time they spend with family and friends. Restaurants, banquets, event venues, hotels, and resorts that allow friends and family to live together are set to thrive in the days to come.
This crisis also separated the men from the young in the industry. At the height of the crisis, there were people who went there and got in each other’s way to take in and feed the frontline workers battling COVID-19 – the doctors, nurses and other health professionals. The kind gesture for hoteliers to offer sanctuary to healthcare professionals in their hotels when the neighborhoods in many of our cities were too fearful to let such people into their surroundings and even to convert their rooms into COVID-19 care and quarantine facilities Much deserves healthy respect from the public. What is important is that our industry has achieved this without harming the health of its workforce in any way. The hotels have so carefully mitigated the risks of COVID-19 that respect for their professionalism and trust has been earned. The Yeoman service has expanded to not only feed the medical and police staff, but also some of the migrant workers who traveled to crisis on foot in the darkest hours to reach their homes, generous and trustworthy people. Therefore, the companies that have weathered the crisis have passed Darwinian natural selection and will write the new rules of the game.
About the author
Kamal Kant Pant
The author is Principal & Secretary of the Indian School of Management, Catering and Nutrition in Pusa, New Delhi.
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