Category Archives: Editorial

AHOY THERE!

It’s that time of the year when most of the Indian travel trade bodies are headed to their annual
conventions. Early in October, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) concluded their 39th Annual Convention in Bhopal. And only last week, the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) were headed to Tawang for their Convention that was scheduled from December 3 – 8, a long six-day affair, and now, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) is headed to Vietnam next month for the same.

Trade body annual conventions are a great platform to get a good peek into where their respective representative sectors stand, discuss issues at hand, draw up a strategy for the sector to chart a better future, and for the association itself to remain relevant in the ever-evolving market place and to the needs and requirements of their members.

These annual gatherings are also occasions where the associations should look at creating an efficient, well-oiled and thoroughly synergised path forward for their sectors in close co-ordination with the government policies, policy-makers and their aspirations or target from the sector. This is particularly true for trade bodies such as IATO and ATOAI, among others, for the very fact that for tourism, particularly inbound and sub- sectors like Adventure, MICE, etc., to thrive, there needs to be very active co-ordination mechanism between the public and private sectors.

Tourism is a pretty much private sector-led enterprise, but cannot do much on its own if not supported by the political and bureaucratic will. The sooner it is understood, especially by the policy-makers, the better it is. Conventions will go a long way in charting the right course for the sector’s successful role for the ambitious Amrit-kaa ltourism target that seeks Adventure Tourism to contribute USD 800 billion or the targeted USD 3 trillion tourism economy by 2047.

IATO’s, ATOAI’s, or ADTOI’s, such Conventions’ success or failure greatly hinge on the fact that how successful have they been in driving these messages home with real tangible results on the ground, and not merely the bureaucratic or political lip services that these events get.

Shayan Mallick
shayan.mallick02@gmail.com

Silence of the Lambs

Two things are happening in stark contrast of each other, and unsavory to both, India’s inbound trade and the Government. The gulf between inbound and outbound has continued to widen. In 2019, India’s best tourism year in terms of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs), the country received 10.9 million visitors against 26.9 million outbound Indian tourists. India was producing 2.5 tourists for every single tourist it received.

In 2023, which was the first Covid-free travel year, India’s outbound tourism bounced back strongly, registering a record 27.1 million outbound visitors. However, inbound was different story. In the absence of any credible plan or promotions in the overseas market, India could barely reach 85 per cent (9.2 million) of its peak 2019 number. So, in 2023, India was producing nearly 3 outbound tourists for every single tourist it received.

Come 2024, there was near unanimity across stakeholders, Government or private, of not just a full inbound recovery but potentially, a growth. However, H1 2024 numbers were still 10 per cent behind the peak 2019 corresponding period. And if that was not enough, the political turmoil in India’s biggest tourism source market, Bangladesh that began in July not only decimated any hope of a rebound in H2 2024, but has potentially already dragged the year-till-date 2024 number below the corresponding 2023 period. As for the available data for H1 2024, India was producing 3.15 outbound tourists for every single tourist it received. And for June alone, the gulf has further widened to 3.4 outbound travellers for a single tourist received!

Now, what’s utterly surprising is that given the plethora industry associations and federations, inbound has miserably failed to argue its case so far. A big shout out and a joint representation, cobbled together bringing every sector of tourism industry, and led by some of the most powerful voices like those of Taj, the Oberoi, the Lalit, the Park, Marriott, Air India, IndiGo, and the IATOs and the HAIs of the industry, is the need of the hour!

Reality of Contrasts

At a recent conference on business travel, discussions revolved around the future of the sector, and how voice technology would soon emerge as the new and advanced medium of bookings. In a stark reality of contrasts, a trade association hosted a session for its members to introduce them on using ChatGPT to generate content for destination marketing.

This is a clear example of how complex and diverse this industry is, where a certain section of players is already contemplating moving towards matured technology use, while a large portion of the value chain is still gradually warming up to the adoption of new-age concepts to drive business.

However, what is constant among both is the need to learn, evolve and stay relevant. Gone are the days when the debate was about offline vs. online agents. The real challenge is adapting to newer technologies at a faster pace for better value and data-driven growth. The focus is now on leveraging technology to streamline processes, enhance customer experiences, and stay ahead in an industry where innovation is becoming synonymous with success. The influx and popularity of travel tech start-ups and white label solutions highlight the industry’s collective realisation that staying at the forefront of technological advancements is no longer a choice, but a necessity for sustained growth and competitiveness.

It is a right move in the right direction to realise that change is the only constant.

Let’s Build a ‘Vibrant’ India

Recently, I read a report on how repeat international visitors to Goa are upset about overcrowding in the state, and the deplorable hygiene situation on its beaches have become an eyesore for visitors. This isn’t the story of Goa alone; most popular tourist destinations in India are saturated, and therefore are facing hygiene and crowd management crises.

While destinations are making strides in digital promotions, what is required is large scale investment to develop tourist amenities and attractions in the state, and this requires public private partnerships at varied levels. One can take a leaf out of Gujarat. At its recently-concluded Vibrant Gujarat Summit, it signed 10 MoUs to the tune of INR 770 crore for tourism development. These funds will be utilised towards developing a submarine tourism facility in Dwarka, a four-star resort, and an entertainment zone and culture theme park.

At times like these when there is ample world-class infrastructure available across established destinations, what states in India require is to offer attractions and facilities to make our destinations more tourist-worthy. And this isn’t restricted just to create extraordinary experiences, but also bring in international sanitation and crowd management techniques to the fore.

It’s time we diversify tourist traffic and bring in some stringent hygiene practises to create standardisation of facilities. It is important to admit here that the responsibility doesn’t lie with the municipal corporation alone. It is an entirely state responsibility and there needs to be a proactive approach from the authorities to seek active participation of private players to maintain and manage our tourist sites, and create a conducive environment for welcoming a steady flow of domestic and international tourists alike. A case in point here is the Interim Budget where Nirmala Sitharaman has laid emphasis on comprehensive development of tourist infrastructure at the state-level through interest-free loans, and creating a framework to assess destinations on their facilities and services being offered. This is a step towards creating and showing to the world the best that India has to offer.

 

Let’s Get Real!!!

This year started on a remarkable note for Indian tourism sparked by the Prime Minister’s visit to the island of Lakshadweep, his outreach move before the ensuing national elections. While Modi’s pictures exploring the serene beach of Lakshadweep went viral, what followed was an unprecedented diplomatic row between India and Maldives with derogatory comments from latter’s ministers on the poor service quality of Indian hospitality.

While it brought about a sudden sense of nationalism and pride in our domestic destinations with a series of tweets from celebrities and an all-time high Google search trends on Lakshadweep, a knee-jerk reaction from leading OTAs only added the much needed masala to create drama like a daily soap on television.

What these moments brought about was a global spotlight on the beauty of Lakshadweep, and the need to explore this island instead of going abroad for beach exploration. Some reports even claimed that tour operators having received massive bookings for Lakshadweep and are witnessing a record number of cancellations for Maldives. However, it’s 2024, and it’s time we get real about our intentions when India is keen on playing a lead role, globally, on discussions of sustainable development, waste disposal guidelines and carbon neutrality.

India, with its long coastline, has established beach destinations that have failed to maintain a decent standard of hygiene and cleanliness to attract even high-value Indian tourists let alone bringing in a massive influx of foreign visitors. And for a small archipelago like Lakshadweep, a sudden spurt in tourists is a complete recipe for disaster. Look at Uttarakhand, where the past decade has seen frequent flash floods leading to massive destruction to property and human life due to unregulated tourism development at the cost of nature. The tourism industry globally, and especially Lakshadweep has reached a stage where a thorough study is required to understand the carrying capacity of a destination and waste management techniques to avoid a repeat of the kind of damage that even Ladakh is facing today.

It is no more about being able to cater to the masses but evenly spreading out tourist traffic to maintain a fine balance. It is best to learn our lessons and avoid mistakes of the past. Even established destinations are now moving away from welcoming hordes of tourists, and are advocating tourism that is sustainable in the long run. Nature is a gift that has seen sustained abuse for centuries, and it’s time for humans to pull the plug.

Moreover, infrastructure development is a structured and time-consuming process. One can’t just rest on the natural beauty of a destination while there is not enough accommodation available and airport connections are negligible. It takes years of planning, execution, development and rigorous marketing on trade and consumer fronts to generate the desired tourist numbers. Jumping the bandwagon without awareness of the ground infrastructure is a dangerous trend.

Prasenjit Chakraborty, Assistant Editor, TravelBiz Monitor

Act Responsibly

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When we thought that India is gaining upper hand in its fight against Covid-19 at that time the virus is raising its ugly head again in states like Maharashtra, Kerala. This development has resulted in imposing fresh restrictions to contain the spread of new variants of the virus. In Maharashtra, lockdowns were imposed in select areas. Whether it is second wave or not, the damage is done to the tourism industry as people have started cancelling their scheduled visit. Few of my friends and relatives have cancelled their visits to Maharashtra and Goa which were curated carefully over a period. I am sure there are thousands of such examples all over the country. This has inflicted further damage to the sector (domestic), when business had just started gaining momentum.

There was a report which states that the new variant of virus led to a 35 per cent fall in sales in the last few days in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, Asia’s largest gold market. The fall in sales is because people are not venturing out. If this is the case for gold, we could imagine the impact on tourism industry. There is already a whisper in the industry-Are we going in 2020 way? Last year, exactly during the same time, the shadow of pandemic was looming large.

Besides Maharashtra and Kerala, new cases have been recorded from Punjab, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh. All these states are significant contributors to domestic tourism. We have to understand that in the current scenario, domestic market is the one and only hope for business. But the rising cases put a big question mark to the sector.

India is 17th among the most affected country by active cases. My intention is not to sound pessimistic, but to caution about possible consequences, if we don’t behave in a responsible way. Our irresponsible behaviour to a large extent is responsible for the current spike. Can we afford another lockdown? Can’t we learn lesson from 2020, which has just gone by? What is wrong in applying our brains so that we can live comfortably in the future?