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Friday, 26 October, 2018, 11 : 58 AM [IST]
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Time to Unite for Image Building of India
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As an avid traveller couple, Amala and
self-undertake at least 5 international
trips a year to different destinations.
This year, we have covered Spain
(Marbella & Barcelona), Hungary (Budapest),
France (Paris), Switzerland (Zermatt & Zurich),
USA (St Louis), Germany (Berlin), the UK &
Ireland till date with an upcoming trip to Berlin &
Vienna over Xmas & New Year.
Things have rapidly changed in 2018, compared
to 2017. Most destinations we visited had fewer
tourists, hotels had a very low occupancy,
shopping malls had very less footfalls, and those
too were window shopping sprees. Restaurants
were half empty, so no problems to walk-in for a
meal which you otherwise had to wait to get in or
needed a prior reservation. Queues were virtually
non-existent at most site-seeing entrances.
Terrorism has taken its toll, all over. Recession
has also had its effect as well as unstable political
situations in many of the countries. These
were not just our observation but we got the
opportunity to talk to random people from the
industry in the countries we visited, passengers
at airports/on the aircraft/at restaurants/siteseeing
places, etc. There are some countries also
affected by war-like situations, earthquakes,
volcano eruptions, labour union strikes and vivil
wars. One would say that this is nothing new. No,
it has always been around earlier, but in recent
times the situation has escalated and things have
become worse. All concerned are hoping that we
will see better times.
Technology has played a great role in recent
times for the travel industry. Use of social and
digital media has enhanced business for most
organisations and those that have not used this
tool are lagging behind and thus stagnating
without realising the potential. Perhaps, they
feel that it is an expensive route but if one
spends some time to understand the nuances
of technology, it is quite easy and simple to
use i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Linked-in etc
Also, for digital promotions there are several
tools available and those that are able to get a
grasp of it have been able to do it themselves
or get it done through others for a pittance
with great results. There are companies that
have developed apps for hotels and corporate
entities wherein a guest who has already made
a reservation can check-in seamlessly without
going to the counter/reception by doing
everything through the app that they download
on their mobile which enables them to get their
room number and a bar code that allows them
to use the elevator without a key and again to
open the room door and finally for check-out
too. This has cut down costs for hotels and saves
the corporate traveller time.
Immigration and security at airports can be
quite a nuisance but that is changing rapidly with
the use of technology. Many airports have now
upgraded their systems for arrival and departure
wherein some nationals can use the scanner
for the relevant pages of the passport and walk
through. Some airports also allow the handbags
to just go thru the x-ray machine without having
to take out your laptop and other electronic
items. Check-in with bags drop off is also quite
common now.
Visa application and approval are being
simplified with more use of online process that
makes life simper for the applicant, except is
the case of those countries that have made it
mandatory to do your bio-metrics in advance. I
have been given to understand (through reliable
sources) that this process will be simplified by
doing it at the time of arrival at the airports of those
countries and at the time of visa application.
Although there have been several impediments
as mentioned above, it seems that the situation
will change for the better quite soon and
hopefully tourism will boom once again with
the use of technology and preventive measure
against terrorism. Also, airlines are increasing
the number of flights and thus fares are becoming
cheaper for the budget traveller.
I can’t but help making an appeal to the travel
industry in India to come together on the same
platform and work out a strategy to dispel the
image in the international market of India not
being a safe destination for different reasons.
I take this opportunity to wish Sheldon & the
Team at TravelBiz Monitor ‘All The Very Best’
on completion of their 11th year and for the 11th
Anniversary Celebrations.
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