Re-engineering tourism
TravTalk Digital Conclave that entered its fourth edition focused once again on the burning topic of the day - Revenge Tourism. The world over, tourism industries are hoping that people will start travelling with a vengeance, and among the first ones to p
Tfirst session of the 4th Digital Conclave was titled ‘Re-engineering Tourism: Reducing fears and establishing confidence’ where experts from three sectors – tour operator, airline and destination – shared their views on how they think the road to recovery will look like. he
Opening the discussion was
Deputy Director, Marketing Head – India, Switzerland Tourism, and she said, “These are tough times for all of us. We as a tourism board are there to help you. We understand that it is going to take some time for people to get back on their feet and for business to come back. We have a team dedicated to the trade and they have been doing a lot of trainings and webinars for the operators.”
Sharma, Ritu
Sharing a key update from the aviation sector was Regional Vice President – APAC, Oman Air Regional Office, who said, “IATA will have an operational plan on international travel that will be released soon and this will ensure that we will be able to provide the safety required for our guests to feel confident enough to travel. As Oman Air, our prime objective is to understand the SOPs of the different countries we fly to as well as the airports, and then build a plan around it so that we can ensure our pas
Sunil VA,
sengers are safe. We have implemented certain measures in our offices, the check-in counters, on-board the aircraft and, of course, the international airports. Things have been made easier with a lot of travel advisories which are available for our guests and our trade partners
in terms of what’s happening in other countries.”
Riaz Munshi,
President, Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), drew on his expertise and added that people have been dreaming about travel since the lockdown. “They now want to go on holidays and be pampered. They are willing to take short breaks and go to nearby places. A few hotels have already opened doors and have assured us that they are taking all precautions. Let’s now look at how we can change our scenario and grow from here. We need to work together. Tourism boards have always been very supportive to tour operators. Hotels have now realised that it is time to build relationships. Let’s get back to basics. India works on relationships, so let’s invest in nurturing relationships with our par tners. Let’s go the traditional way and turn this situation around faster than we thought by doing it together. Airlines and hotels should not see us as competition but as collaborators. Do not try and cut our revenue. You will have to increase your marketing budgets. We must start afresh,” he opined.
Building traveller trust will be key
Sharma shares her perspective on this and says, “We as Indians aren’t very patient people. After being made to sit at home for three months, I am sure people will want to travel with a vengeance. Of course, that will be
weighed against other key factors like the safety of the destination. What travellers will look for is a lot of reassurance on their safety and security and the biggest issue is going to be trust. They are going to choose destinations where they can have faith in the cleaning procedures. And I think all of us here need to build that faith in the consumer’s mind. Switzerland is now completely open, whether it is public transport or hotels and restaurants and even health spas – of course with a very strict protocol that needs to be followed. We as Switzerland have a huge advantage because it is a completely safe and secure country.”
Sharma also shared a new development from Switzerland which recently did a survey – a Global COVID-19 Assessment Survey – which had a lot of factors and wasn’t limited to tourism. “It stated that Switzerland is the safest country to travel to right now. Yes, we are looking for people to be able to travel soon but this ‘soon’ is some time away. We can’t say when India will open its borders. But Switzerland is open. And Switzerland has launched a ‘Clean & Safe’ campaign along with Switzerland Tourism Board. For this, we have tied up with six local associations that will award this ‘Clean & Safe’ label to companies which will indicate they are following protocols. That is something that all of us will have to look at – as an airline, hotel, or as a tour operator,” she added.
Standardised SOPs across borders
Sunil shared a much-needed requirement for airlines at this moment – a standard operating protocol. “Countries do have SOPs in place, but there is an SOP which is now released by
ICAO for airlines as well as one that will come from IATA. These will be advocated by global tourism bodies such as UNWTO and WTTC. This is so that everybody more norms coming in going forward. There are plans to change the seating on the aircraft but airlines will have to spend more money to do that. We are also in discussion with the airline manufacturers and talking about how we can implement more safety measures in cabin. We also have guidelines from manufacturers on the sanitisation process after each rotation, which will have to be followed very strictly by all airlines,” he shares.
Will people travel?
Munshi echoed industry-wide sentiments when he said, “The situation is very hard to predict right now. But travel will start very gradually. Outbound can start only once international flights commence. People will gone after seeing how the airlines and airports are taking care of the passengers. Domestic flights have started and domestic hotels are also slowly opening up. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that long-haul will also start soon. As soon as a vaccination is found, Indian outbound will grow at high speed,” he said.
Will outbound become more expensive?
There has been a lot of conversation around cost of travel going north due to COVID-19. Sharing his views is Munshi who says, “I don’t think so. Cost is always a product of demand and supply. Right now, the demand is less so there is no way the cost can go up. People are thinking that