Published on : Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Previously, many people traveling to a remote place having small, shabby hotels carried their own cotton sheets and towels to ensure proper hygiene.
The same was important for overnight train travels. Now, this might become a norm for all travels in the near future. The same goes for water for ensuring hygiene and safety from any kind of contamination. Sanitizers would soon become the new shoes; you cannot step out without it. Also, staying with family and friends, wherever possible might turn out to be an alternative for hotels.
When holidaymakers start coming back, some of their habits would have changed forever; and hence, businesses would have to take action innovatively and creatively to accommodate them. The corporate world has more or less turned to digital meetings. Business travel would be restricted by companies considerably to take care of their own balance sheets. After the lockdown, for at least three-six months, we would generally see only emergency and absolutely necessary travel taking place.
The tourism and hospitality industry is not only the worst affected by the ongoing pandemic but would most likely be the last one to recover fully. Capacity utilization would go down for airlines, hotels and restaurants, increasing the prices, which would restrain leisure travelers, creating a kind of negative spiral. New hygiene and touchpoint protocols will add to these costs.
People confined to their homes for months now, would need to work for some time before embarking on their next holiday. A fear of getting stuck in a distant land would keep them close to their homes. With lack of public transport, travel would be limited to distances where people’s own vehicles can take them. Large events of any kind, whether personal or professional, would be completely off limits.
Nature and wellness holidays are likely to rebound first. Also, there would be a surge in learning holidays, where people would travel to a destination in a small group and stay in one place to pick up a skill. These could be yoga camps, spiritual retreats, writing retreats, bird-watching sojourns, family gatherings or anything where one would stay in one place. This means less travel in general but longer stays at one place.
On the positive side, there would be a beginning of a much-needed balance between over-tourism at a lot of destinations and untapped potential at less explored destinations. This is the best time for tourism boards to refurbish their destination maps and uphold geographically spread-out destinations in their regions. This would not only control losses but also create new revenue streams and develop customer base. International borders being closed is a great opportunity for the domestic tourism industry to prosper within the country.
Destinations like Sicily are considering incentivization plans for tourists planning to visit them soon after the lockdown, with free entry to attractions or heavy discounts on flights and hotels. Every destination would require an ‘ab initio’ approach to re-establishing its branding.
Tags: Tourism worldwide