Rethinking Tourism
As we get ready to celebrate World Tourism Day this month, rethinking tourism, the theme for this year, seems extremely appropriate. The focus on reimagining the sector’s growth, both in terms of size and relevance, will be an interesting one.
Now is the time when we must plan for the tourism that we want and work on the key elements of recovery. It’s time we ask the questions: Where is tourism going? Where do we want it to go? How do we get there? This opportunity to rebuild tourism may not come again and we must take steps to identify the way forward.
These days, there is a lot of conversation around sustainable travel as the way forward. Healing the world and taking responsibility for the actions of tourism is of utmost importance. Amplifying the message of tourism as an inspirational and transformational force is important too. Resilient and sustainable practices are being developed as we rebuild towards the pre-pandemic tourism numbers. From India’s point of view, we have guidelines in place to develop a more sustainable ecosystem for tourism, but self-implementing these guidelines will be crucial. India’s outbound tourism industry is currently flourishing, the sector is rebuilding its rules and showcasing new trends. The world is knocking on India’s doors and the Indian travelling is gaining popularity globally. The Indian traveller is not only from the top cities in the country, but also from across the country, exploring remote corners of the world and undertaking newer activities and experiences in international destinations. But is the Indian traveller taking responsibility for all their actions abroad? Has the traveller matured? While the industry is celebrating the return of outbound travel, it’s time to re-imagine the growth of this sector and capture the new trends across the industry. Foreigners are also making their way back to India and exploring the country again. Focus on wellness and ayurveda has gone up but how are we rethinking tourism in this space? What new are we promoting? What trends are we expecting? How are we identifying solutions to realign tourism for the future? If we don’t retrospect in five years, we regret not rethinking our tourism strategy and policies.