Dear Friends,
These are exceptional times – a time none of us would have expected, a time whose tales we will tell our grandchildren, a time when economy and businesses were low but spirits high and the complete focus was on “survival”. Many of us have been in a state of ‘lockdown’ for as many as 100 days now and there are many lessons one has learned during those times. We have all learned to be a bit more resilient, less complaining, more self-dependent or ‘atmanirbhar’ as many say and most of all, appreciative of small pleasures of life. Family time has taken an all new meaning and fun time has been completely redefined with in-house and online entertainment!
However, that does not mean that we have forgotten the losses at work, loss of life happening around the world and the severity of the effect on the tourism industry, which was the first to be hit and will probably be the last to recover. Not just the major players such as hotels and airline operators, the smaller stakeholders – the guides, the campers, those small shop owners in numerous hill stations who would be inundated with traffic during the summer season – all are fighting to stay afloat, in the hope for a better future, maybe next year now… when tourism will bounce back…
Because we will bounce back – there is no doubt about it. People are yearning to travel and as per the findings of the BOTT Travel Sentiment Tracker, a good 60% of people are keen to travel once the curve of the pandemic has been flattened in India and around. Maybe the big fat Indian weddings and MICE segment will take some time to recover and maybe even the outbound travel will slowly crawl to normalcy but as for Domestic Travel – there will be no stopping people to pick their car and go to the nearest tourist joint / hill station / resort to enjoy a break.
So friends, sit back and hold tight, have faith and be assured – the good times will return. The world will surely travel once again and perhaps like never before – the jobs will grow and so will the income bracket. This too shall pass…
We look forward to your suggestions, inputs and most importantly, criticism.
Sincerely,
Priyanka Saxena Ray,
Founding Editor,
Business of Travel Trade (BOTTIndia.com)
You can reach me directly at priyanka@bottindia.com
