Where does the industry truly stand?.....

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the course of tourism and we feel its pulse! While the world talks about the impact of the virus on industries, we delve deeper into the business of tourism in India and understand how it has impacted the very building blocks of the sector – its people!

Salary Survey explores the implications that COVID-19 has had in terms of job losses and salary deductions, while gauging how optimistic ( or not) the industry is about the future of tourism. In our endeavour to offer a more concerted look at the Indian travel trade’s situation at present and its expectations from the future, we surveyed more than 800 respondents that included airlines, travel agencies (domestic, inbound and outbound), GSAs, marketing and representation companies, B2B agents and DMCs, online travel agencies, as well as allied sectors & services. Here, we share with you some key revelations.

We divided the survey respondents on the basis of the number of people they employed. While more than 40% employed up to 10 people, at a close second (32.32%) were companies that had more than 100 people employed. With no previously-set standards to measure against and lack of experience in having dealt with a pandemic of this scope and extent, it is not easy to predict when the industry will bounce back, when tourism will resume, or even know when a vaccine will be out. All that one can do presently in a hope to survive and fight the menacing virus’ impact is to determine where we stand today, what resources are available to us to deal with the pandemic and its financial impact (and for how long), and what else we can do to ensure our physical safety and financial security, and that of our employees as well. A key finding of the survey has been the resilience of the industry in this difficult time.