Physical health and mental worriers are in holidayer’s mind, post pandemic opening of many destinations. Sharing anxieties, experiences in social media about travel do not give much confidence. There is already a worrying point of jobless and weak financial position that negatively impacted the future of travel. With this devastating impact of Coronavirus and new variations is now a common talk in every corner which indicates medical, economic psychological threats. Such mental setup is not conducive to the positive growth of travel. Minimised social contact, putting mask all time, vaccination, food control, immunity booster are new norms of travel and before venturing on vacation all these have to be adopted, so there is a big question now how these worries can be balanced and how the destinations open for tourism even after some relaxations, cope with daily changing covid norms, how to assure clients about the safety. Prime consideration is safety first and vacations may wait.
One positive thing visible at this changed scenario is performance for Staycations, be nearer to place, focus on limited to one place with complete rest. Still travellers must check regulations at the time before the travel and not to take trips when it is against official guidance. Most long haul destinations overseas may not open till November 2021. Lockdown is very strict in these countries like Singapore, UAE, Thailand and European countries. So travel domestically and domestic tourism will be quick to recover. Already in India Domestic travel is soaring and will be further strengthened as vaccines become widely available to the Public.
Though there are still some travel restrictions for domestic travel with sudden increase of pandemic coronavirus and the vaccine process is continuing slowly, only possibility now for holiday to go for is staycations as People want to get away. In India eco destinations are popular like Andaman, Goa, Leh Ladakh, Uttarakhand, HImachal Pradesh etc. with limited restrictions. Mainly road trips are preferred because they seem to be the safest form of travel during pandemic. Holidayer’s prefer exclusive transport to move with families more to air travel. This is a low risk of covid19 exposure if you take the road trip and stay in alternative accommodation than hotels. These small alternative accommodations follow proper safety protocols. Even one can carry bed sheets, towels for daily use. People are more health conscious in post covid 19 world and this is going to negatively impact the travel industry. Individually drawn itinerary is preferred as they feel safe because one need not share accommodation or transport or travel with people who are not known to them. Crux is the safety first that will guide the future of the travel and tourism industry. Atleast year 2021 appears to be over. No international air operations expected before October – November 2021. So let us look forward to 2022 for the revival of the tourism industry. This is purely my gut feeling based on my 50 years of experience in the tourism field.
By Gour Kanjilal, Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India
