"Amrit Kaal" sans Travel-Tourism-Transport-Hospitality-Aviation.
Is like leaving a railway coach de-coupled and stranded on the track.
It is excellent to plan for the ages to come.
The emphasis on looking ahead to the next 25 years - ‘Amrit Kaal’ - brings to memory the celebrated onslaught of ‘Vision 2020’ plans at the beginning of the millennium. There are two memories associated with it - one, nearly every government department in the country devised this promising plan, and two, am not very sure of there was ever an honest check on what all those ‘vision documents’ achieved (once the documents were ‘launched to the press’, that was the end of that). Quite obviously there’d be some goals that would’ve been achieved at least in part. I doubt if they ever moved beyond that. In at least three departments of a government where I was involved in, those documents simply gathered dust.
In the meanwhile, what we have seen in these past 20-odd years is an almost complete upheaval of our established systems and means of going about our businesses, education, healthcare, telecommunications, entertainment, #TRAVEL and much more. Some of these changes may have been difficult to predict; am sure nearly no one saw the absolute surrender of our lives to the small hand-held device in our hands coming.
TRAVEL - EVOLUTION INTO A NEW DYNAMIC
Travel Agents dealing in air ticketing saw a bleak future when Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa, among others, started doing away with ‘Agents Commission’. They were exhorted to turn to tourism services and join a budding industry segment to provide sustained incomes in return for planning memorable holiday experiences and empowering destinations and its people to get on to the development bandwagon. As more such tourism companies got into the market, more people travelled. As more of them travelled a handful of destinations like Kerala started to taste the benefits of what we now call ‘Visitor Economy’. Jobs and livelihoods were created.
The theory - ‘tourism helps prevent migration from rural areas to urban Centres’ was seen in practice. For eg., some old traditions, customs and folklore revived. The burgeoning economic activity demanded executives take breaks longer than the Sunday morning breakfast break. New travel publications (in addition to world renowned ones) were birthed and soon started showing Indians that there were more places to see. New and previously unheard of segments came to the fore - honeymoons in India, driving holidays, weekend (resort) holidays etc.
Seeing the astounding success of Kerala and the global popularity and reputation it received as a highly desirable destination, other destinations jumped in the fray:
Karnataka began moving its focus away from Bangalore and Mysore to exotic locations like Coorg, Hampi and Belur
Madhya Pradesh though started off as a cornucopia of ‘see this, see that (yeh dekho woh dekho)’ later positioned itself clearly for tigers and heritage
Maharashtra showed us the mesmerising Ganapatipule
West Bengal presented us a host of unseen experiences
Odisha became the capital, so to speak, of tribal tours
The entire North East was showcased as dreamy locations and an outright adventure land
The trend in online bookings soon picked up and travellers armed with loads of insightful information from articles, blogs, travel websites, newsletters from destinations-hotels-airline holiday divisions and a host of old and new travel publications, started hitting ‘Book Now’ buttons from the comfort of their homes or phones. The travel business once again hit headwinds.
“Experiences” were then thrown into the mix and thus was born ‘experiential travel’, creating yet another segment in the ever evolving tourism sector.
Not to be left behind some tour guides metamorphosed into boutique tour companies providing ‘exclusive’ experiences. The travel and hospitality business rolled from one situation to another, “mutating” into several smaller segments and sub segments. All the way, creating new kinds of job opportunities one never imagined. There was space for expansion.
Much more took place - investments poured into hotels and exotic resorts, convention centres catering to the MICE segment emerged, online travel service companies were set up, water adventure and amusement and a host of other new experiences came up.
In the midst of the cacophony of tourism promotion, a checks and balances effort - Responsible Travel and Sustainable Travel emerged. Hitherto ‘travel only’ companies started offering packages that enabled travellers travel responsibly to ensure the longevity of earth’s precious places, safeguarding customs and traditions, even educating people about the threat of climate change.
All these are examples of how the industry almost on its own managed to not only find means of sustenance, but also move ahead with the times.
CRISES THAT HIT TRAVEL
At each point of a multitude of crises the best brains sat together and devised new means to overcome them. 9/11 and the global financial crisis were perhaps the two biggest mountains of difficulty the industry successfully overcame.
Just when things seemed irreversibly poised to further heights, and the industry steadfastly marching towards UNWTO’s 20-year old projection of hitting 1.8Bn tourists, like a thunder bolt from the blue, Covid - the most unique challenge made its wicked arrival on the scene.
Every other challenge ranging from security to financial, and from law and order to floods present a reasonable opening for the daring to come out and inspire others to venture out. Not a health crisis as severe as Covid. SARS briefly created a serious scare. Ebola showed Kerala how a health epidemic can brutally kill a segment like travel, even if for a few weeks.
We were taken aback by a sense of shock when the world shut down, almost voluntarily. For a short while we celebrated WFH and it’s advantages, some pledged never to enter an office, others put to the freezer any holiday plans. All of this in the interest of health and the simple desire to live longer.
No sensible person would take to hiking or holidaying if health is at risk, or a threat to dear old life. And that was the premature end or at the least a long slowing down, of man’s urge to travel - whether for business or pleasure.
Within days, airlines started ‘storing’ aircraft after sealing plane engines - numerous ticketing staff, data analysts and routing decision makers went into prolonged disarray
Hotels switched off their central air conditioning systems and Resorts closed their gates - tens of thousands of employees from VPs and GMs to waiters and cleaners stared at inevitable salary cuts or worse
The big buzz of people presenting-talking-laughing went silent at Convention Centres - hundreds and thousands of locally employed innocents just looked on helplessly
The sound of trolleys, rhythmic heels and boots, and dings-and-dongs went quiet at airports - thousands upon thousands of customer service agents, baggage handlers and parking assistants were left to bear with the deafening silence of these once bustling halls
The impact of this crisis on India’s industry has been painful and much beyond understanding.
Like the huge Titanic ship that took hundreds along with it into the deep depths of the Atlantic, the glacier in Covid forced about 35M people off the travel-tourism-transport-hospitality-aviation-industry - jobs lost.
Some reduced themselves to tears whereas the enterprising among them began to sell fish with self made apps. Still others left ‘travel’ by taking to pharma (well...) and many more chose to wait to see light at the end of the tunnel.
Impatient and risk-averse entrepreneurs shut down or sold their businesses. Sensible ones, those with deep pockets, and the ones with committed passion about travel took part in webinars, and stayed informed of the emerging brand new trends in the interest of their workforce (and their own livelihoods).
As we gradually allowed ourselves to be injected with magic drops to help us come out of this crisis, the travel industry (together) worked hard to instil confidence in people and lure them to travel again. As travellers - convinced of the measures taken by the industry to safeguard their health/safety - began to warm up to old routines of festival-weekend-experiential travel, thousands of industry professionals once again were back in their smart uniforms smiling at guests.
THE UNWELCOME GUEST
Just at the wrong time, Omicron presented itself under microscopes and all hell broke loose. Restrictions, controls, bans, localised lockdowns, curfews and what not, were the norms again.
Doctors, scientists and professionals repeatedly called for an end to these illogical, insensible and futile measures that killed the only industry that did not receive any help from the mighty government. As good sense was drilled into them, one by one these have started to come off like old paint from walls - leaving bits of it there.
AN INDUSTRY-DRIVEN BUSINESS
Since the inception of the industry, at every time in crisis, it has been upto the industry to claw its way back from the brink, in order to survive. Industry took it on itself to adjust and create newer opportunities so that millions and millions of families continued to be fed.
IF EVER THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE TRAVEL-TOURISM-TRANSPORT-HOSPITALITY-AVIATION SECTOR NEEDED A KIND GESTURE FROM THE GOVERNMENT, IT WAS NOW (no, the promise of credit/loans after 2+ years of no business is not all that promising). A lot more was naturally expected.
“AMRIT KAAL” EXPRESS
While the promise of an ‘Amrit Kaal’ sounds good, as someone said “in the long run we are all dead”. 25 years is a fantastic frame work within which to aim for a golden era that will dawn upon us. The train will chug on. But how will it be if 10% of India’s GDP gets decoupled from the digital-economy-OCD-fed super fast express train? It will remain idle, left to bear the hot sun, heavy rains and cold winters, all by itself, to rot, rust and go to rack and ruin. Natural space for expansion has shrunk a little, just as Covid has left millions of lungs bereft of the ability to expand as the need be, on its own.
What is needed is a concrete plan to:
enthuse travellers to travel (accessible, clean, safe destinations)
enable the industry facilitators (agents/operators/hotel-resorts/airlines etc.) to operate without any strings attached (they are the ones who ultimately make the 10% of GDP happen)
propel investments into the sector (mere roads, highways and airports will not help), and,
create a highly desirable reputation both within and outside our great nation
My fear is, by the time the importance of this 10% of GDP is realised and theoretical, longer term plans begin to fructify, our tiny neighbours may steal the rug from under. Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, the Far East, the Middle East and others will overtake us and India’s industry will run the risk of being stagnant. India may have the domestic capital to sustain our industry; but we also have an increasing number of people able to travel abroad (travelling from Delhi to Kochi may at times be more expensive than going to Bangkok or Dubai)!
Tourism also needs an “Amrit Kaal”, in the present. NOW!
Excellent thoughts Binu.Couldn't agree more!