Impact of Pandemic on Travel
Unfortunately, the impact is global and has set a domino effect of sorts. Nowhere has been the impact of Covid 19 Pandemic so severe as in the case of our tourism sector especially as regards inbound travel in India. The forecast is that it will take as many as two years for the valuable foreign exchange earner to emerge from the shackles of frequent lockdowns, flight cancellations, travel hesitation, Visa constraints, and now vaccine-linked passports. Perhaps leisure travel will take a longer time to reach the pre-pandemic level, forget about growth. The picture is grim, and the reality is that we are facing stark challenges not only in the recreation and leisure sector but all spheres of life.
But the future seems mired in pitch darkness because we have limited knowledge of the behavior of this deadly coronavirus. Our previous experience of Spanish Flue suggests that this will end with time after leaving millions of dead in its wake. It is too early to predict even though we have modern technology and research at our behest unlike in earlier times, but still there prevails an inexplicable confusion as to the origin of the disease. If it is zoonotic then nothing else is known of its long-term behavior. Things will get globally compounded if this is a lab virus mishap or a deliberate attempt. The scope of impact is greater than the World wars, and anything can happen in the time to come.
At present, the industry is occupied by several questions?
Will the emergence of variants spell complete doom?
Will the vaccines overpower?
Will it become innocuous like seasonal flu?
Will travel peak after the scourge is over?
Lots of questions remain unanswered to this date. We rely on research and therapeutic solutions all the time, but we must also be hopeful of quick deliverance. The industry is bound by the virus for a long time even after emancipation, and thus travel hesitancy will hamper the flow of the tourists in near future.
Post-Pandemic Impact at Glance
However, there would be many travel enthusiasts eagerly waiting for a quick getaway as soon as restrictions are done away with. They have sufficient funds which were stocked away during the lockdown. Then there are peripatetic travelers who would risk it without much hesitation. Not as much, but vaccination will further boost confidence albeit it will start with local travel first. Hence those in the industry seeking this segment should be well-appointed with Covid 19 compliance, SOPs, and all.
Health precedes adventure, and those not complying with the new normal will sink further. Health and safety will be a dominating concern for travelers and there is no leeway as far as allaying concerns embedded deep in people's minds after the pandemic.
The worst impact has been on the psyche of International travelers who have closely observed the sudden surge of the second wave and its devastating nature in India. The gruesome image of rows of funeral pyres well publicized by Western Media has further vitiated the prospects of safe travel in India. The country has experienced devastation at its worst this century and will have to submit all strength and resilience to come out of this tragic and deadly economic slowdown.
Countrywide vaccination and a complete halt to the pandemic will not bring the trust back as far as inbound tourism is concerned. Though the decline of the pandemic to innocuous numbers will open doors for travel, only those with enough confidence and the will to travel will head toward the Indian shores. The figures would be pathetically minimal not enough to revive the ailing industry.
Already lagging behind countries that garner a greater share of overseas tourism, the lockdown, and International flight cancellation has further paralyzed the industry. Even inland and outbound tourism has been staggered by the pandemic. Total uncertainty prevails.
This is for the first time in the contemporary era that the whole of India has come to a standstill, not only niche sectors like tiger tourism which draw a large number of wildlife tourist enthusiasts to the country. All sectors that attracted overseas tourists have been badly hit.
Intermittent relief has somehow kept local tourism alive but this start-and-stop phenomenon is discouraging the peripatetic Indians as well. The savagery of the second pandemic rebound is going to take a long time for the industry to revive as it has badly marred our psych for a long long time to come.
The forecast of the third wave is further compounding our fear and confidence, and the travel hesitancy is palpable. Taken by surprise the second wave has shocked us to no end and has perpetuated fear that it might never go away. Forget the oncoming third wave however apocryphal it may seem, the ravage of the second wave, slow down, and deaths that followed have economically exhausted the industry. The sufferers belong not only to the small segment, the big ones have been hit equally hard.
It is time to show confidence in ourselves whence the pandemic becomes innocuous or is halted by extensive vaccination which India is fully capable of. If we begin to travel not only will the domestic tourism sector revive quickly but it will also showcase our resilience and capacity to fight back for good and thus encourage overseas visitors to head for our shores.
Role of The Dispensations
The only saving grace is that tourism sectors both inbound and local will experience a renaissance albeit much later, but till then the closures and extensive unemployment it causes will remain a major challenge. The pandemic has left a large number of the unskilled labor class, and the semiskilled unemployed in its wake. This segment is most vulnerable irrespective of the industry sector and will need assistance from the Government which anyway is being provided without hesitation, but there are many who may not have been the direct beneficiary. This only means there will be assistance gaps that will have to be filled up. For instance, micro and small business owners who have faced the worst brunt of the intermittent closures and the disease prevalence at a personal level are in dire need of economic revival if they have to survive, and providence is not going to prevail this time.
The only way out of this quagmire is to open up all sectors fast, with the implementation of schemes and incentives not only at the Governance level but also boosted by the industrialists and big businesses. Vaccination is bringing back hope but much more has to be done.
The tourism sector calls for urgent attention not only as regards infrastructure buildup but also for a widespread economic package full of incentives and relief. This has to come from both the Centre and the State Governments.
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Uday is a content writer and SEO. He also teaches Digital Marketing in his home town Jabalpur. He loves to write on various topics.
He can be contacted at:
pateluday90@hotmail.com
09755089323
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