Bouncing back: Fillip to tourism sector needs co-ordinated policy decisions, feel stakeholders

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Human beings have a tendency to appreciate things afar rather than those close to us or within our country. This school of thought can be safely applied to our travel plans. The Covid-19 pandemic has altered our lives like no other event in the past, affecting every class of citizen. Forced to stay indoors and cancel travel plans, people had to accept a ‘new normal’.

Impact-wise, the travel industry had to face the brunt of the pandemic with many livelihoods depending on the inflow of tourists getting affected.

The government has announced measures to alleviate woes of the sector with PM Narendra Modi urging citizens to visit unexplored places in our country instead of visiting foreign destinations as stakeholders hope to revive an important part of our economy.

To amplify this message, the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative has been launched.

A panel discussion featuring stakeholders of the travel industry like KB Kachru, Chairman Emeritus and Principal Advisor – South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, Jyoti Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India and Amrit Mann, Director, Mann Tours and Hony. Secretary, Indian Tourist Transporters Association shed light on the current state and road ahead for the sector.

“I think there’s still a long way to go. The sector is recovering well. Over 70 million international travellers and 11 million inbound tourists, 2.3 billion domestic tourism visits and 27 million outbound tourism visits have been generated by the Indian tourism industry. Domestic tourism is on the rise and the tourism ministry’s initiatives have helped generate vibrancy. But we will be starting from ground zero and it is going to be very difficult,” Mayal said.

Mayal noted that indicators like flight and hotel bookings are indicating a positive picture.

“Tourism in India is in recovery mode but for inbound travellers, there’s a long way to go,” she said.

She also pointed out that unless there is proper co-ordination between government and private entities on the larger issues, the sector won’t be able to come out of the woods.

On policy level changes, Kachru said tourism needs to be treated as an industry.

“It was good to hear PM say that tourism is one of the pillars of our economy. But if we need to see fruition of this at the ground level, some co-ordinated policies are needed,” he said.

Kachru said since international flights are closed, he thinks ‘revenge tourism’ can be witnessed at the domestic level.

“The leisure locations are doing well and the Dekho Apna Desh campaign has helped in aiding this sentiment. I must also point out that people have also realised that there’s a lot to see in our country. We need to learn from other countries and take actions which will help us in improving domestic tourism,” he said.

Talking about the bruised state of the sector, Mann said the past 18 months were the ‘worst and survival has been difficult’. He, however, said the Dekho Apna Desh initiative helped him make a positive difference to the society.

“Compared to pre-Covid period, we are at 25-30 percent of that level, that too because of domestic tourism. For the Dekho Apna Desh initiative, we took unprivileged kids under this initiative and taken them to places like Qutub Minar, Red Fort and Humayun’s Tomb,” he said.

Impetus due to vaccination

The rapid pace of vaccination and clearance of Bharat Biotech’s vaccine by other countries are important to see full revival of the sector, according to Mayal.

“More than 14 percent of our population is inoculated with Covaxin and it is a huge chunk. I don’t know why WHO has taken so much time and I think our PM needs to be more affirmative about this issue. Tourism will never recover fully unless the travel restrictions are reduced and there is lack of co-ordinated policies between countries,” Mayal said.

Generating employment

Kachru said the sector has been generating a lot of employment opportunities over the years and policy measures should look at ensuring it is able to provide jobs consistently.

“Hospitality is a capital intensive business and we need to make it attractive for investors. For them, what is most important for them is how they will survive. We will come to the next stage of revival and ultimately thrive. But if due importance is not given to the sector, we won’t be able to address the issue of unemployment,” he said.

Mann rued that despite the fact that the sector provides employment to 15 percent of the population, it has still deprived of the industry tag.

Road ahead

Mann said India has diverse tourist attractions ranging from mountains to deserts and there are many places to visit.

Kachru also said the current situation is such that there cannot be any leniency in adherence to Covid-19 safety protocols. But there needs to be a co-ordinated policy between states to ensure seamless travel.