Positive indicators for recovery of travel and tourism
Governments are easing restrictions and people are looking forward to travelling again. Travel and hospitality companies are in anticipation of reopening their business with enhanced sanitisation measures. Do you see early signs of recovery? Here are some positive traits, although it is still too early to claim it is business as usual.
With the unlocking of all major markets and the opening up of air travel and domestic tourism, the travel and tourism industry would be very optimistic about the recovery from now till the end of the year. I have observed that the main stakeholders of this industry- which are the airlines, hotels and destination governing bodies have been very proactive to establish all guidelines and SOPs with respect to health and hygiene and crowd management to ensure the unlock does not lead to chaos but instead instils confidence amongst the travellers. Some of the key indicators I have followed are:
Seat Utilisation and Load Factor management in Airlines
The airlines have taken a big step by opening the air services albeit on reduced occupancy because these lead to lower profits with such stringent cost structures with a reduced occupancy. But this step has allowed people to start travelling again as we are seeing some transient business in our hotels and the airports have started to see higher volumes gather around. This is an important trend as we would soon be seeing more airlines resuming services and more airports opening over the months allowing a steady recovery for the industry.
Travel Bubbles
These air travel bubbles created with other countries were key arrangements during the repatriation phases and now other countries are using this opportunity to grow tourism and trade amongst them. I expect India to also begin their air services on similar lines also and currently, India already does have air travel bubbles with the Middle East, Asia Pacific regions, European Countries and North America which can thus be a big step towards a revival.
Relaxation of State Quarantine Rules
Earlier, apart from the central government regulations, all states had their own quarantine rules which were stopping internal state travels till recent times. Now with the eventual unlocking up to phase 4, all states have started to open up and are allowing passenger movement. States such as Rajasthan, Goa, coastal regions of Maharashtra and Chandigarh are getting a higher footfall which is a positive sign.
Improving Travel Sentiments
With the relaxation of quarantine rules, growing airline services and improving numbers of corporate and business travellers; we are inching towards recovery on a daily basis. With the opening of state borders, the famous and preferred travel destinations are witnessing growing visitor numbers so all in all these are very positive steps needed for the recovery of the market.
Press coverage towards the improving recovery rates
While the media coverage has mainly been on the growing number of cases, there has also been some positive coverage on the low mortality rate and the high recovery rate which is nearing 78 per cent in India. I think the news agencies will have a very important role to play to work this industry back to normalcy. I think that people have an urge to step out and travel which has not happened this year and the whole industry always looks forward towards the October – February slot when leisure and group travel is at its peak. Given how the industry has been hit this year they would need these months to perform even more than ever so I think it is imperative for all news agencies to highlight the positive stories and play their part in the revival of their sector.
Vaccine
We have been hearing some great progress made on this front by different pharma companies and nations. Some are in an advanced stage of testing while many are optimistic about introducing the vaccine in a few months. Whichever way this goes the whole industry is hoping this would be the game changer and all plans and strategies may be reviewed again once this vaccine is out for the public. So all news of this is a big breakthrough and all our industry folks are keeping a close eye to this development.
All these above points have had a positive impact on the industry. When put together, these measures have helped improve the daily numbers and we are slowly seeing the non-quarantine related occupancy grow across various segments of the industry. Going forward, these indicators are important for long term recovery as well.
Shwetank Singh is the Vice-PresidentDevelopment and Asset Management at InterGlobe Hotels.