Tourism revival- How domestic will lead the way

Gopinath Nair

In my earlier article published here in April, I had touched upon how Domestic Tourism will herald the revival of our industry in India. Let us do some deep diving on the subject.

Why Domestic?

As COVID 19 batters one country after another in the western world, we are beginning to see major tourist destinations like Italy, France, and Spain turn literally into graveyards as the virus takes its toll in hundreds of thousands in these advanced countries. Add to that USA which has now turned into the epicenter of the pandemic, and the picture is near complete. It is going to take them months to start on the road to recovery and maybe at least a year before their major tourist destinations become “Tourist friendly” again. Staring at unprecedented unemployment and poverty, millions will have to recover physically, emotionally, and financially before rebuilding can start.

Closer home, matters are a little better but the scars of Cold 19 will take a long time to heal before Indian tourists start flocking back to Japan, China, and Australia. International flights to/from India are not likely to restart in any great hurry as the governments and airlines are going to be extremely careful to avoid a resurgence of the pandemic.

It is in this context that domestic tourism will come into focus in India. We are still months away from recovery in India, but given the size and complexity of our country, the central and state governments have done a commendable job so far. Let us sincerely hope that the onset of summer brings a quick end to the pandemic in India.

Inbound Tourism in Doldrums

Given the scars left behind by Covid19 in their own backyards, we are unlikely to see too many foreign tourists undertaking international travel any time soon; in fact, I have heard many experts say that there will be no holiday travel unless there is a vaccine found for the virus. One can optimistically look at Q2, 2021 for any serious inbound business into India.

The Domestic Opportunity

Assuming that we see the back of COVID 19 by around August 2020 (4 months from now), we should start seeing new shoots of revival on the domestic tourism front. With another month required for revamp of properties and safety protocols to be completed, let us safely look at September for our domestic business to slowly start again. It would be initially in trickles as travelers test the water and slowly build up for Durga Pooja/ Diwali season. By then it is expected that domestic flights would have resumed to near full capacity. The following types of travelers are likely to be leaders:

VFR – Visiting Friends and Relatives, Pilgrimage and Spiritual travel, Health and Wellness related, High-end leisure, Niche MICE

How should you prepare?

This lockdown is a great opportunity for you as a travel professional or tour operator to get ready for the season which will come 5-6 months from now. There is no better time than this to do the following if you have to survive:

Destination Knowledge: Make sure you and your team brush up and enhance product knowledge on destinations. There are hundreds of great domestic destinations waiting to be discovered by Indian travelers who would otherwise have traveled abroad. Consider reading up and contacting your peers in these destinations. This is also a great time to prepare hundreds of itineraries to use when customers start coming back. On a recent trip to Assam and Meghalaya in early March, I was amazed at the beauty and diversity of these destinations, which are waiting to be tapped.

New Products: Driving holidays and higher-end travel will appeal to your clients who may not want to go too far from their cities. So look for properties within 4-6 hours of drive from key cities.

Build Content: Time to revamp and get your website and other marketing tools handy.

Build and renew Partnerships: Use the God-sent break to establish and renew supplier partnerships. Call them and do video sessions with your teams. IF you remember in these troubled times, they will for sure return the favor when business bounces back.

Start Promotions: Clean up your database and start mailing to attract your existing and new customers.

Focus on Domestic: In case you have traditionally been focusing only on Outbound or Inbound only, this is probably the best time to step back and re-look at your business. If I were you, I would certainly add a Domestic Division to my business and move some of my other staff to build the new team. Train and upgrade them to meet new challenges. Gone are the days when Domestic used to get step-motherly treatment from operators.

What will customers look for?

As people start planning their travel post COVID, these are some of the things that you could expect them to be looking for and demanding:

Safety and Security: Make sure you do your homework to ensure that destinations and hotels meet exacting standards of health safety and security. While social distancing may no longer be mandated, expect the well to do traveler to head of quitter, spread out properties with lots of open spaces.

Value for Money: Despite everything, customers will use Covid as an excuse to negotiate harder for bargain deals.

Creative Itineraries: Some of the old paradigms will be busted as the world turns into a Buyer’s market as multiple travels and tour operators chase a shrinking pie of customers. So make sure your offerings are creatively different from the competition.

Above all, you would need to remain nimble and run a tight operation as managing costs will be key to survival.