Industry hope gets wings
Ministry of Civil Aviation's announcement to resume international commercial flights from March 27 has left stakeholders in tourism and hospitality sector ecstatic, as they expect a rise in business.
Even though the decision of restarting scheduled international flights from Ministry of Civil Aviation was on the cards, still it has come as a relief for the entire travel and tourism fraternity. We look forward to the revival of international tourism in the country. Furthermore, to enhance the foreign tourist flow to the country, we urge the government to restore all visas that were issued earlier, but were suspended due to COVID-19. This apart, we appeal to the government to resume multiple entry visa and e-Visa for the countries. We also request the government to extend the validity of free tourist visa till March 31, 2024, without capping of five lakh free tourist visas.
It is a huge relief that the government has finally decided to do away with the air bubbles and to open up the Indian skies to scheduled commercial aviation again. We hope that health requirements will also be tweaked and that all airlines will now move swiftly to restore schedules and capacity. Unfortunately, we lost the entire incoming season and inbound tour operators will have to survive somehow for another six months. However, the resumption of flights spells hope for the outbound summer travel season. Foreign travel will become more expensive with depreciation of the Indian Rupee. Hopefully, the capacity increase might bring down international airfares to more realistic levels to even things out.
The lift of the ban on international flights has come as a much-required aid for the sector. We wholeheartedly welcome government’s decision to open commercial flights. As India is being recognised for its vaccination efforts throughout the world, the fear in the minds of travellers has also subsided. This gives us a positive outlook for the future. We are optimistic that we will start getting good business starting August 2022. However, more initiatives are required for the sector to recover and reach its full potential again. For instance, tourist visas are still on hold. Issuing these visas will help both the travellers as well as the industry. MOT should also start marketing India as a destination again on different platforms like print media, digital channels and travel fairs.
Government’s decision to resume international flights after two years’ break is a muchawaited news for the industry as they wanted international flights to start as quickly as possible to revive both inbound and outbound tourism, which was suspended since March 2020. It’s better late than never and the stakeholders who have suffered business loss on account of the suspension will heave a sigh of relief from this development. While revival of outbound tourism may pick up soon due to approaching summer season, inbound may take some time to catch up. However, a beginning will be made for the tourism industry, since during the last two years, stakeholders were totally dependent on domestic tourism alone. Now with multiple choices, the industry will flourish.
We thank the government of India and Ministry of Civil Aviation for restarting international flights, as we had been following it up with the ministry to restart international travel because most countries have thrown open gates for international travellers. The industry was awaiting an announcement in this regard since early bird gets the worm. Foreign Exchange earnings for the last two fiscals has been entirely wiped out due to curbs which also forced approximately 30 per cent of hotels and restaurants to shut business. The industry’s total revenue in FY 2019-20 stood at Rs1.82 lakh crores and it employed 50 million people. The latest announcement has come as a ray of hope for hospitality businesses and those employed in the sector.
OTOAI is happy with resumption of scheduled international flights. After having recognised the increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with stakeholders, the Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from March 27, 2022 i.e. start of Summer Schedule this year. We at OTOAI could not be happier with this news. Continuing with our efforts, OTOAI had written to Civil Aviation Minister two days ago, requesting him to resume scheduled international flights. With the opening up of world tourism and relaxation of COVID-19 curbs and India coming on the Green List of most countries, we feel the announcement couldn’t have come at a better time. We are thankful to the Government.
It has been a very long two years and we welcome this move to open travel. This comes not a moment too soon, for an ailing industry. It promises to revive flyer confidence, and herald a period of normalcy, and be a catalyst in breathing life to both inbound and outbound travel. We have sensed a slow rising of intent travel, but then the means were not available with pandemic closures of air spaces. This latest news combined with an all-time low in case numbers and a high vaccination rate will be sure to put India back on the destination road map, again. Airfares are falling already and many routes closed so far, are open with attractive fares. The war in Europe could slow demand for India as a destination from Europe, so we will need to wait and watch how this pans out.
We, at IndiGo welcome the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA's) decision to allow resumption of scheduled commercial international flight operations from India after a gap of two years. It was in March 2020 that scheduled flight operations were stopped, owing to the start of the pandemic. The industry has been waiting for this announcement for a long time. This much-needed step will provide impetus to the economic recovery for the sector and the nation, with borders opening for tourists from across the world. We look forward to connecting our customers to the people and places they love. We will soon be announcing the schedule for our international destinations, in accordance with these new guidelines.