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The effect of COVID-19 on the Indian tourism industry
1Ruchika Kulshrestha,Assistant Professor,Amity University ,Haryana.
2Kunal Seth,Professor, Amity University ,Haryana.
Abstract
The current coronavirus, the "severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) syndrome," recently
emerged, has contributed to a highly infectious disease called coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19). The
virus was first identified in December 2019 from Wuhan city in China and spread throughout the world in less
than three months and was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11
March 2020. To date, the current pandemic has seriously affected the most industrialized countries of the
world and has become a major threat to small and medium-sized countries. The pandemic has a major impact
on India's tourism industry, especially on airlines and hotels. In addition, this study examines the implications
for the sustainability and resetting of the tourism industry in India.
Keywords: Tourism, Sustainability, Covid -19, Pandemics,India.
Introduction
China reported an outbreak of pneumonia with unknown causes in December 2019. The epidemic had become
an international public health emergency. A Wuhan Seafood Market was established as the suspected hub of
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outbreak in early January 2020, and has been
closed down since that time. This new virus was temporarily called the new 2019-nCoV or COVID-19
coronavirus. On 30 January, the first case was confirmed in Kerala's Thrissur district in a student who had
returned home for a vacation from Wuhan University in China
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_India). In the month of February
also ,the confirmed COVID cases (students returned from Wuhan ,China)were from Kerala. Subsequently ,a
complete lock down was declared for the national concern by the Prime Minister of India on 25th March
2020.
Table 1 below shows the total number of COVID-19 cases in India as on 10/07/2020
Active cases Cured/discharged Deaths Migrated Samples tested
278685 495512 21604 1 11024491
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Source: https://www.mygov.in/covid-19
The following paper will give a brief description of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on the tourism
industry in India and sustainability and resetting of the tourism industry.
COVID 19 and impact on tourism industry
This pandemic is the biggest challenge that any country has ever faced as international travel could be
adversely impacted by up to 25 per cent this year which is equivalent to a loss of three months of travel. Since
travel has become an important part of everyone’s life and is no longer considered as a luxury but a necessity
to break away from a mundane routine and rejuvenate, we are positive that travel will revive soon. However,
destination marketing services will see a drastic shift. The usually not so conventional destinations, who have
seen a controlled exposure to the pandemic might see an upward trend in terms of tourists or as an alternate
destination for some of the conventional ones for the time being. Luxury travel will take its time to again play
an important role in an individual’s life and domestic market and self-driven accommodations at boutique
hotels and home-stays will be the focus till next summers as social distancing and staying at smaller properties
reduce the risk of the virus. South East Asia and Middle East will play a key role in India Outbound tourism
as they have close proximity and fewer Covid-19 cases. Regarding MICE Travel, there will be a reduction in
the travel budget and companies will keep on promoting Work from Home and conference calls/ meetings to
reduce the risk and expenses.
The booming industry discussions and studies on tourism and COVID-19 call for a consensus response to the
pandemic as an opportunity for change (Siagalla M., 2020). The next normal and economic order should not
only be recovered, but also replenished and reformed by industry (McKinsey, 2020), while COVID-19 should
not only be used by researchers as another context to replicate current information on tourism measurements
and tourism forecasting (Gössling et al., 2020, Hall et al., 2020).
The most visible and immediate impact of Covid-19 is seen in the hotel and tourism sector in all its
geographical segments - inbound, outbound and domestic and almost all verticals - leisure, adventure,
heritage, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions), cruise and corporate. Over the past years,
most of the countries have considered tourism as a contributor to economic growth and is widely accepted that
year after year throughout the world a massive investment continues to pour in its development. Whenever
there has been any major impact on the economy of any country, tourism has always been the first one to get
affected as people start to cut down on their travel budgets first. However, tourism relatively had a direct role
Journal of Xidian University
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 7, 2020
ISSN No:1001-2400
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https://doi.org/10.37896/jxu14.7/119
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to play when it comes to COVID-19 which has widely spread most in the countries with a high number of
tourists.
According to the report FICCI report (2020) published online, India has a total of 3961 centrally protected
sites either under UNESCO as a world heritage site or the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). Monuments,
such as the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort in Agra and Qutub Minar in New Delhi, are the highest revenue earners
grossing annually INR 77 crore, INR 34 crore and INR 26 crore, respectively. The livelihoods of
approximately 1.75 lakh daily earners, including tour guides, rickshaw pullers, photographers, etc., have been
affected in Agra alone. Tour guides with licenses from the government are not allowed to take up alternative
jobs, adding to their challenges.
Given various travel restrictions imposed by the Indian government as well as governments across the globe,
forward bookings for various conferences and leisure travel bookings to foreign destinations have already
been cancelled. In India, most of the summer holiday bookings (for the states of Kerala, Rajasthan and Goa)
have also been cancelled (about 40-50 per cent), thereby impacting domestic tourism.
In order to fully contain the virus, The Prime Minister of India announced the 4 phases of Lockdown
order(LDO) as they expected the number of COVID-19 cases would continue to increase (Prime Minister’s
Office, 2020). The prohibitions during the MCO will further contract India’s tourism industry and therefore
effective policies to assist the industry players are imperative.
Covid 19 & impact on airlines
The effect and shutdown of the coronavirus pandemic is clearly evident on financial markets. Yet the wider
impact it has across companies and market sectors remains unknown. Airline players stressed that the new
travel ban and worldwide declining demand have put the carrier at risk of bankruptcy. In the decline in flight
numbers since March, data showed the international effect was higher than domestic markets.
The market for air travel dries up in ways that are unparalleled without any clear horizon normalcy. Covid-19
has accelerated the bankruptcy filing process by many firms (like Virgin Australia and Air Mauritius) for an
industry already strained. Airline firms still in operation have experienced misfortunes as coronavirus-forced
lockdowns held their fleets grounded. Some airline firms (Indigo, Go Airlines) have also taken other cost- cutting steps, including furloughs, through industry reports. Aviation, which accounts for 2.4% of Indian
GDP,
Journal of Xidian University
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 7, 2020
ISSN No:1001-2400
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