Tourism puts humanity before business and waits to rebound

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the loss of lives and livelihood across the globe. Industries across the spectrum have been impacted by the pandemic, the travel and tourism industry has felt maximum impact due to grounding of planes, closure of railways, hotels, and other establishments. the sector will reel under the effects for the longest time. The government, through various initiatives, has made efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID on the industry.

When the first wave of the pandemic struck and the lockdown was imposed, most of us urged the government to open the tourism sector and allow it to survive. The second wave has been quite different- more widespread and deadly. This time around, state governments did not ask hotels to be shut but many did so voluntarily. With no business in sight, a conscious decision was taken by managements for the safety of their staff and to keep the operational costs at bay. A good example is Agra, where out of the two Taj properties, only one was kept operational.

The tourism industry has always contributed to helping people and the government during these difficult times. Many hotels offered their rooms to medical staff and patients, restaurants supplied food to hospitals and homes, banquet halls and exhibition venues were converted into hospitals. The travel trade sector used its vehicles as ambulances to ferry the sick while several companies also helped by supplying oxygen cylinders, medicines, and other essentials. The aim has been to put humanity before business– the tourism industry, despite all hardships, has been doing its best to help the nation in the times of this unprecedented crisis.

We are certain that tourism is one industry that will survive. Its recovery will be longer; it might return in a ‘W’ shape and with many challenges testing its resilience to the capacity, but it will recover well. Revenge Consumption (demand) will fuel this recovery as people would want to travel much more due to home-locked fatigue.

‘No business’ surely does not mean being ‘out of business’ and each of us is doing our best to survive and keep businesses afloat. Though there would be several inevitable changes and business disruptions in the sector post-COVID era, each business will try to recover from the accumulated losses in shortest time. To do this, businesses will multiply revenue models, form new verticals, reorganize markets, and expand into new markets. Horizons will be much wider, competition fiercer, ethics of business will have new meanings and tourism will go through a paradigm shift.  

Also, it is time that the government starts planning its tourism revival strategies. Most countries are doing it, and many are even opening to tourists in a phased manner. The biggest foreseeable challenge at hand is the perception of India that needs to be changed and once again the country needs to be re-projected as a healthy and a safe destination for travelers. The task at hand is tough but possible. 

The author is Chair, FICCI Tourism Committee, UP State Council and Member, FICCI National Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Committee, and President and CEO, Tornos.

“For tourism to revive, we need to change the present perception of India: Prateek Hira”

In conversation with ETTravelWorld, Prateek Hira, who dons many hats, that of the Chairman of IATO for Uttar Pradesh for the fourth consecutive term and the Chairman of FICCI Tourism Committee, Uttar Pradesh State Council, says, he’s confident that inbound tourism will return, albeit slowly.

Peden Doma Bhutia

ETTravelWorld

May 17, 2021, 08:50 IST

There’s no doubt that the international perception of India has taken a huge beating and Prateek Hira, who has been appointed the Chairman of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) for Uttar Pradesh for the fourth consecutive term, says he’s been worried about the way in which the global community is perceiving India since the beginning of the pandemic. He goes on to elaborate how the second wave has battered the international image of India, “The kind of images doing the rounds has caused enough harm not only to the image of India but also has shaken the confidence of intending inbound travellers.”

Pointing to the fragility of travellers’ confidence, he says, one negative news is enough to break it and in the present circumstances that’s precisely what’s happened. He says the most immediate concern would be to instill confidence among travellers, and inbound operators should shoulder this responsibly along with the Ministry of Tourism and take it up as a challenge. “The primary responsibility of course lies with the government and I’m sure they will do their best to change the perception, but we as individual operators and trade bodies too should put in our best to do that in our own little way.”

When asked if inbound tourism is indeed coming back to India, Hira is quick to retort, “Those who claim inbound tourism is not coming back soon, are sadly mistaken. We have hordes of vaccinated tourists from our traditional markets of UK, US, Russia, Europe and even the Far East waiting in the wings, only monitoring the situation to get better here so that they can pack their bags for India. Of course, it goes without saying that the return of inbound tourism will not be a spiking upward graph, but there will be a gradual upward slope.”

Hira, who has recently been appointed as the Chairman of FICCI Tourism Committee, Uttar Pradesh State Council, says that chairing a committee at this time is much more of a responsibility than it could ever have been. Explaining his position, he says, “The industry looks up to the chairman with hopes of bailing them out at the earliest, while the government bodies look up to the committee for simple, low-spending solutions to bring back tourists to the state and reinstate its position in tourism. I look at it more as a challenge and a responsibility.”

Taking up the challenge, Hira, with his 27 years of experience in the tourism industry, has resolved to make all this happen in a time-bound manner to help the state regain its position in both domestic and inbound tourism. “If our planning and policies are well structured, we will revive much earlier and with it the woes of the tourism business will also end much sooner.”

Talking about his plan of action, Hira goes on to say that FICCI’s Tourism Committee will be presenting a detailed white paper to the government that will enlist the measures required for the earliest revival of tourism. He goes on to say, “FICCI’s Tourism Committee of UP State Council will be much more structured now and our primary focus will be the earliest revival of tourism through creation of an interactive platform and encouraging frequent dialogues between the government and the industry for mutual benefits. FICCI’s Tourism Committee in all seriousness will make Uttar Pradesh, ‘tourism ready’ so that we have much more and much better to offer than we ever had.”

When asked to comment on the deadline for the whitepaper, Hira says, work is already underway and the committee intends to submit its report by June-end. Doling out more details, he says, “This report will be divided into three major parts, the first part will deal with the impact of the pandemic on the tourism of UP, second will talk of requirements to nullify these in shortest possible time, while the third will deal with how the state can project itself as much better and more attractive destination to post-Covid tourists. This report will also enumerate potential regions, new circuits and innovative themes along with the areas of concern to develop these as tourist attractions.”

Hira informs that this would in fact be the committee’s second report, as just last month they submitted a report on the state’s tourism potential for culinary tourism, where they have highlighted cuisine as an attraction for tourists to Uttar Pradesh.

Enlisting the priority areas, Hira says his focus would be on developing tourism all around the state, rather than just limiting it to a few already popular destinations. “The more destinations and products we have and the bigger radius we cover around these destinations, we can attract much more tourist traffic across all segments and get much more equated economic benefits, including employment generation for the locals. We will soon map the state’s tourism potential, beyond its popular destinations, encourage local participation in tourism and showcase the state to attract meaningful tourism investments and get in optimum tourist traffic.”

Calling the surge in domestic tourism when India opened up after the first wave, a future marker of the return of inbound tourism, Hira concludes, “Let’s all be positive and treat this only as a sabbatical to learn and come out as better and more knowledgeable tour operators.”

Mr. Prateek Hira has been appointed as the Chairman of FICCI Tourism Committee, Uttar Pradesh State Council. Prateek Hira brings with 27 years of experience in the tourism industry and expertise on the subject with many tourism researches to his credit. The committee shall advise government of Uttar Pradesh primarily on the issues plaguing tourism industry and will work closely with the government of Uttar Pradesh to revive tourism in a time bound manner after the present situation of pandemic eases. A detailed white paper will be presented to the government that will enlist the measures required for earliest revival of tourism. Government of Uttar Pradesh has resolved to create employment opportunities through tourism and make tourism a key driver of growth and FICCI through its Tourism Committee under the chairmanship of Prateek Hira will be a catalyst to make this happen soonest.

Press Coverage As Under: 

Tourism Breaking News : https://tourismbreakingnews.com/prateek-hira-nominated-as-chairman-of-ficci-tourism-committee-up-state-council/

Travel Turtle : https://www.travelturtle.world/news/prateek-hira-appointed-as-the-chairman-of-the-ficci-tourism-committee-up-state-council/

Travel Newsy : https://travelnewsy.com/2021/05/15/ficci-tourism-committee-appoints-prateek-hira-as-chairman-of-up-state-council/