ABTO’s formula: Tourism = H3 + NAC
To beat the COVID-19 pandemic and bring the world together again, the Association of Buddhist Tour Operators (ABTO) has invented a new formula through which it is trying to spread the message of happiness, togetherness and a strategy to cope with crisis as one single force. eat the COVID-19 and take the world along, the tourism industry will be revived by adopting the formula and bring back the industry on track again,” affirms Dr Kaulesh Kumar, Secretary General, ABTO, who is very optimistic about evolution of the tourism industry in the post-era of the crisis. Sharing details about the formula, he explains, “If we start following this formula, Tourism= H3 + NAC, then the day is not far when tourism industry will be the favourite and biggest business of all.”
Breaking down the meaning of the formula, Kumar explains, “In the formula, H3 means, Hotel, Hospital and Hospitality.
It means that if a hotel that starts a service like a hospital in emergency, so that the employee gets work and maintenance charges are also exempted. Here in Hospitality all the work of tourism, ticketing, transport, guides etc., which will have to come on one platform. Then N= Nature. It means that we should not tamper with the beauty of nature and enjoy whatever we have. A=Agriculture which means that every hotel should adopt one or more villages so that along with organic food, the farmer can avoid suicide. C= Culture. We need to preserve the local culture, customs, festivals and traditions to cooperate in respect and encouragement. If we follow this formula, we will be able to think more about the value of life. After COVID-19, new revolution will come and the whole world will work together.
Challenges & opportunities
According to Kumar, today, the industry which gives happiness to the world as well as the highest employment to all, is struggling to save its own existence.
“There are clouds of despair all around, but I am optimistic considering the ideals of great scientists Stephen Hawking and Abdul Kalam. Tourism is not only an integral part of human lives, but it is also an integral part of all animals. You must have heard the name of migrated birds, animals who travel thousands of miles and go from one place to another. Even, Lord Krishna also promotes tourism,” he said.
Kumar is very optimistic that the coronavirus will be beaten, and the quarantine will be over soon and people hungry for adventures will start visiting different corners of the planet again and all travel business
owners should get ready for this. “The current situation will not stay forever. The bright days of tourism are ahead and the current situation with pandemic will not ruin this business industry. Yes, there will be losses and complications, there will be temporary halts in many processes but if business owners use this time wisely. They can improve the work of their travel companies and attract more sanitised customers,” Kumar said.
Digitisation, a game changer
According to Kumar, a a business owner, travel agents should not wait till hard times and pass time doing nothing at all. “You can spend this so-called time, ‘travel-pause’ to optimise your business and
go digital. Building a travel app can be a good idea. Think about your clients and how you can make their experience better and faster. It can be an app for organising the trip, booking flight ticket or hotels or apartments abroad. It can be an app for the local guide building the most interesting tool for sightseeing. There are many ideas and tech trends you can consider like voice technology, VR, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence,” he said.
“It is also necessary to think about your employees. From day to day, travel agents have to deal with a huge load of paper and enter manually the personal data about each client on the computer. To unload your employees a little bit and optimise the routine process, you can consider developing your own customer CRM or use some cloud-based solution for more convenient access to the data and use software for managing and training your staff. Every business is about the future, the opportunities you can get if you take a step,” he further said.