DOMESTIC TOURISM - SURVIVAL MANTRA

Domestic Tourism - Survival Mantra

 Hospitality Industry is facing extreme severe weather during these unprecedented times, it has affected the people from hotels, restaurants, theme parks, aviation, and the rest of the travel sector. In response to the spread of the virus, many nations enacted travel restrictions, together with a decreased willingness to travel, the restrictions have had a negative economic and social impact on the travel sector in those regions.

Everyone around the world sustaining in some pain or the other. The World is in lockdown, those who tried to open it up to have gone back into lockdown, like Singapore. The countries like Brazil, who really opened, the situation there looks terrible. There are many questions which people keep on asking. How do we grapple with this? When do we find a cure? When will the things open up? How we will live with it? Who knows when things will be normal or we have to live with this New Normal? The answer is in the question itself, WHO knows.

If everything comes back to normal and we see things getting opened up from tomorrow, then also the Travel and the tourism industry will take some time to get back on its feet. Would travel revive? Would International travel revive? That is a question for all of us to really figure out. This is something the world has never seen before. Would the travel go back to normal, maybe not? 9/11 changed the entire perspective of the world in terms of travel & tourism, especially aviation and security, Corona is equally a defining moment, we will be hopefully changing our habits, our civic-sense, our discipline, sense of hygiene, sense of living. Safety and hygiene will be of utmost importance, safe travel will become a priority. So, what will be there for the Hospitality industry in this Post-COVID-19-era??  To answer this, we should learn from the history, humans are the most adaptive species and has always come back to normal, that is the fighting spirit of the human race, be it both the World wars, be it the great depression, Human race has always come back to normal.

Post-COVID-19 Era

We have written in our previous posts and also discussed with many commercial heads and business owners on this subject, Post-COVID-19 era will initially depend on domestic travellers and as international travelling restrictions are eased from the host and the source countries, the contribution will be seen from the international market.

Domestic and International Travellers

Domestic travellers, as per the Stats always dominated the Indian Market, the Indian Hotels receive 77.2% Domestic Guests and 22.8% Foreign Guests. The number of domestic tourist visits in India during 2018 was 1854 million as compared to 1657 million in 2017, growth rate of 11.9%.

Also, Indian Inbound tourism has seen consistent growth over the time, 17.42 million international tourists arrived in India during 2018, out of which 10.56 million were FTAs (Foreign Tourist Arrivals) and 6.87 million were NRIs (Non-Resident Indians). The growth rate in inbound tourism was 3.7% vs the previous year. Demand from FTAs is not expected to pick up anytime soon, travel restrictions across the globe will fully be eased down only by the end of the year, furthermore, most of the future travel bookings for the peak season (October to March in India) are done in summers, which has largely evaporated. Indian Hotels need to concentrate on domestic travellers and also on outbound travellers and should contain them.

Outbound Travellers

India is one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets, India’s outbound tourism market is over 26.29 million tourists as in the year 2018, which is 33% more than the total inbound tourism from both the FTAs and NRIs together. The growth rate for outbound tourism is also higher than the inbound tourism, the year 2018 saw a growth of 9.8% vs 2017. Closed borders and International travel restrictions will restrict outbound tourism, the domestic market will have ample opportunities to attract these travellers.

Most Visited Countries

As per the Indian Tourism Statistics, 2019, following are some most visited countries by the Indian travellers,

Singapore–As per the recent trend, the Republic of Singapore welcomes over 1.2 Million Indian travellers every year, it tops the list of most visited countries by the Indian.

United Arab Emirates–UAE is the second most visited country by Indian Travellers.

Thailand–Beaches, Palaces and Temples of Thailand make it one of the most visited countries in the world. India is the 7th most foreign tourist revenue generating country for Thailand.

The United Kingdom, The United States of America, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, France, Australia, Italy, Nepal, Bhutan are some most visited countries by Indian travellers.

Government Appeal

Our domestic market has to contain outbound tourists. Government campaigns like Vocal for Local, Aatm Nirbhar Bharat (Self–Reliant Bharat) are some movements which should be practised in the tourism sector. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Bhuj to Dibrugarh, From North to the South and from West to East we have a rich heritage. There are many things to do for the travels which include the opportunities to experience an array of sacred sites, spiritual encounters, while nature lovers will enjoy high-towering snowy mountain peaks and verdant valleys, sun-washed beaches, lush national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.