The deadly pandemic has hit hard the tourism industry in India and also the world. The coronavirus is wreaking havoc across the world. It has claimed thousands of lives of the world and also thousands of crores rupees of the tourism sector. The government of India has suspended all the visas to check the penetration of this highly contagious disease in the country. The tourism sector has been affected by the economic slowdown and the rising horror of the pandemic. As reported by The Economic Times, “According to industry chamber CII, this is one of the worst crises ever to hit the Indian tourism industry impacting all its geographical segments – inbound, outbound and domestic, almost all tourism verticals – leisure, adventure, heritage, MICE, cruise, corporate and niche segments.”
The tourism value chain of the country, across hotels, tour operations, destinations, family entertainment places, land, air and water transportation has been adversely affected during this critical situation. The CII Tourism Committee said that between October and March, the inbound foreign tourism accounts for over $21 billion. This is about 65% of the total annual tourism of the nation.
The CII Assessment report added that “As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80 per cent now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores.”
The report also added that the advance bookings for travel between the period of October 2020 to March 2021 are muted. Even the rates of ticket cancellations are extremely high due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The forward cancellations of NRI segments are continuing in full swing. This is hinting at a massive slowdown of the Travel and Tourism industry.
Unless the epidemic is checked and prevented from further outspread, the situation the tourism sector will not have any ray of slightest improvement. Anuj Puri, the chairman of ANAROCK Property Consultants said “The cancellation of visas for foreigners as well as the strong advice issued to Indians to refrain from unnecessary travel will have a marked effect. This is the most unsettling healthcare crisis in recent times and hotel bookings will go south.”
The holiday season of India typically lies between April to July, and October to December. In December 2019, the tourism sector was affected at a rate of 40-50% and witnessed the cancellation of tickets and travel plans. For the period between April to July, the sector may get hit at 80-100% rates if there comes no positive news about this virus.
The CEO of Makemytrip.com, Rajesh Magow said “The period between February till the end of March is typically a lean period because of exam season but we are seeing a demand slowdown for the upcoming summer holiday season especially for international travel. The situation remains dynamic making it hard to quantify the actual impact on our business and industry at large.”
Between January and February 2020, the Foreign Tourist Arrival (FTA) has reduced by 9.3% and by 7% year on year basis. During this same period, the number of tourists who visited the Statue of Unity reduced by 38%. And the approximate revenue collected declined by Rs. 5 crores. As reported by the Archaeological Survey of India, “On an average, we sell over 22,000 tickets to foreigners. In March, on a daily basis, we weren’t able to sell more than 16,000 tickets.” After the authorities ordered the shutdown of Taj Mahal, barely 8000 tickets were sold on a daily basis.
Like many other affected countries of the world, India has now closed all the borders restricting the travel strictly for preventing the transmission and spreading of the COVID-19. Since 23rd March 2020, the Indian aviation companies have stopped all the international and domestic flights. The Railway Ministry in India has suspended all the passenger trains, several Indian states are into complete lockdown and they have also called for a curfew.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA India) has reported that all the Indian airlines, excluding the Government undertaking Air India, will incur huge losses of around $50-60 million in the Q4 of 2020. The organization also warned that if the government does not intervene now at this critical juncture, then most of the airlines will be shutting down by June 2020 due to the lack of sufficient cash. With the rising coronavirus cases in India, the future of the tourism and hospitality sector looks grim.
The sector will face a lack of businesses during the period of summer vacation that is April to July 2020. In 2019, the tourism sector was already hit by geopolitical issues and macro headwinds; and in 2020, within 3 months, the sector is again hit by the pandemic. The tourism industry contributes around 10% ($275 billion) in India’s GDP.
The Indian tourism industry is vast and also unorganized to some extent. The sector has nurtured several interconnected industries like hotel, transportation etc. These tough times have posed to be a severe threat to this diverse segment, predicting massive layoffs and shutting down. The unskilled and inexperienced employees are the weakest links in the whole chain. This is making their position highly vulnerable in the tourism ecosystem.
As opined by the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality, “the tourism industry is looking at pan India bankruptcies, closure of businesses and mass unemployment. It is believed that around 70 per cent out of a total estimated workforce of 5.5 crores (direct and indirect) over 3.8 crores could get unemployed.”
Several organizations of the tourism and hospitality sector have urged the government to allow interim relief for the payment of taxes, EMIs, salaries etc. The government would surely do as permitted by the human bounds, but the industry must get economically and mentally prepared due to the upcoming disaster.
In an interview with India Today, the president of Travel Agent Association of India, Jyoti Mayal said, “Coronavirus has affected our travel and tourism business entirety in a very negative way. Globally, the travel industry has come into a deficit of nearly $80 billion. The Indian industry has already suffered huge losses and continues to do so. It’s not only restricted to the countries where the virus is active. Travellers are scared of being confined into aircraft space, cruises, being quarantined and more. We are advising our members to look at opportunities around them and request the government to give subsidies and rebates to our industry to sustain these difficult times.”
Just like India, several countries like Britain, Australia, USA, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, Kuwait, and Italy have locked down completely to stop this contagion from spreading. The nations are prohibiting the travel for keeping the spreading at check. The symptoms surface only after a span of 1 or 2 weeks. Elderly people with low immunity and pre-existing medical conditions are susceptible to the disease. The people of other nations cannot enter India and vice versa.
The airports bear thousands of commuters daily and this becomes risky at this hour. The government of India has taken special initiatives to check the health conditions of the passengers before they step out of the airport. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan made the screening of the passengers mandatory at all the airports of the country.
The government has strengthened the travel and entry restrictions after observing a steady increase in the rise of Coronavirus cases in India. All the passengers, be it domestic or international travel, are screened for ensuring early detection of the disease. From 18th March 2020, the government banned the entry of passengers from countries like the European Union, UK, Turkey, Afghanistan, Philippines, and Malaysia.
By 21st March, all the states started observing total lockdown and curfew. The Ministry of External Affairs along with Air India and Indian Air Force has evacuated many Indian nationals from the virus-infected areas. And kept them under observation in quarantine centres for 14 days before releasing them.
The fast-spreading of the virus in the nation has triggered the lockdown. The travel restrictions and curfew are harming the travel and tourism sector. It is estimated that the hospitality is up for a loss of revenue of Rs 30,000 crores, while the number for the aviation sector is Rs 8,200 crores in the year 2020.
As reported by Business Today, “The National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) has warned that even 10-20 per cent job losses among its 7.3 million employees in restaurants across the country would mean up to 15 lakh unemployed. Something that would have severe social consequences.”
The need of the hour is the invention of a cure, a medicine that can treat the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. Just like tourism, several other industrial sectors like automotive, banking, retail have incurred huge losses in 2020. There are several states in India that depend solely on tourism revenue. The problem of unemployment and monetary crisis is sure to arise during the time of massive lockdown. To prevent stealth transmission, the citizens are urged to maintain social distancing and quarantine. As of now, the situation is moving southward, with no sign of improvement.