For most of the people the dates were marked and the bookings done to visit their dream holidays or the couple was waiting for their honeymoon and the plans with the family and friends were to be lived in the coming summers. But the menacing Impact of COVID-19 did not allow the execution and did not work according to the planning. The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has made the world take a pause since the end of February 2020. The virus has made the international borders closed and restricted the travel of people to one place. The companies were shut down and lockdown had been imposed on every part of the world.
Last few months have severely been impacted severely been impacted all the sectors of industry but major impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was seen on the travel and tourism sector and it was hit the most. The travel and Tourism industry is held responsible for elevating the economy of a large number of countries. Travel and tourism sector contributed to annual GDP of 4.6% in 2017 and had the potential to generate tens of millions of new jobs each year, an expectation to rise by 2.2% each year to 4.2% in 2028 but this has fallen to 12 to 14% in the COVID-19 pandemic. Every year millions of people travel for refreshing their soul, for business or for leisure and suddenly due to the pandemic a 98% fall was seen in the international tourists numbers in May 2020 compared to that in May 2019, which incurred a loss of nearly US $320 billion in international tourists receipts. The land, sea and air all the three transport operators are majorly impacted by the COVID-19. This loss was similar to three times the loss occurred at the time of Economic Crisis in 2009!
Discussing the tourism industry in India which provides a vast market by having a collection of tourism products- adventures, cruises, medical, leisure, religious tourism, sports tourism, etc. it has been crippled by this catastrophic impact of COVID-19 in India, the summers being the season of travel and tourism sector. The Himalayan ranges were filled with trekkers and adventurers during this time but it was empty.
This impact of COVID-19 in India has been vicious. The outbound travel, inbound travel, adventures, leisure travel all were put at a halt. The Indian GDP which had a contribution of about 9.5% in 2018 and approximately INR 16.91 lakh crore was down to a 7% year-on-year of foreign tourist arrival, considering the border closure. The inbound travelling has also been restricted and the visas have been cancelled for the duration of this pandemic as a result of which, the tour operators, the travel agents, the hoteliers, the home-stays, airline operators, cruises, etc. are constantly receiving the cancellations from the customers giving rise to a high financial strain to this sector.
States which had tourist attractions like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Assam and many other states that have a high contribution in state’s GDP have been ungenerously hit by the impact of COVID-19. The airlines were already warned seeing the decline in the air traffic by almost 15% to 20% by the early March and was expected to hit the rock bottom in the following months. The mountain states, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh whose major income is from tourism during April to June are suffering a huge downfall due to the impact of COVID-19 and the life of locals there, have been seriously affected.
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A loss of 10 lakh crore has been estimated by the FAITH, a policy federation of association of tourism and hospitality as a result of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. This mournful conditions of the travel and tourism sector are not going to recover soon as the first place where the people are going to put a cut down on their budget is the travel as the financial system was at halt and people have already utilized their savings during this harsh time and even would ensure a complete safety before stepping out. The pandemic is over-looking the job of 38 million people which is approximately 70% of the total workforce. The coming out of such a loss is very difficult for the industry without any kind of financial support from the Government. But the government has not given any special recognition to the travel and tourism industry even though it can help in uprising the economy of the country at the fastest rates.
To fight the COVID-19 and ensure enough safety from the impact of COVID-19, guidelines have been mandated by the MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) for movement and travelling:
- Now as the unlock 3.0 has been started the travelling guidelines have been changed and only a fewer restrictions have been kept than before. Travelling was not allowed till lockdown 3.0. Only people with essential requirements were allowed to travel. Cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, taxis, cabs, buses, airplanes and trains were not permitted.
- In Lockdown 4.0, liberalization was given to travel. Buses, auto-rickshaws, cabs can operate; inter-State movement of vehicles to be decided by States mutually. Metro, air and rail services remain suspended, except those allowed with special permits.
- In Unlock 1.0, Inter-state and intra-state permission was given for travel and that too depends on the state you travel as the final decision was left on the state government, but international travel was restricted except for those permitted by the government.
- In Unlock 2.0, Inter-state and intra-state movement was allowed and also movement of passengers outside the country was permitted with the respective SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Railways were started but the metros were still restricted. Evacuation of foreign nationals and sign-in and sign-off of Indian seafarers will continue as permitted. Also no restriction on cross land border trades with neighboring countries with trade treaties. Restaurants will be opened. Apart from these the state can monitor the activities on the basis of the assessment.
- In Unlock 3.0, Inter-state and intra-state movement was allowed and also movement of passengers outside the country was permitted with the respective SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Railways were started but the metros were still restricted. Evacuation of foreign nationals and sign-in and sign-off of Indian seafarers will continue as permitted. Also no restriction on cross land border trades with neighboring countries with trade treaties. Restaurants will be opened. Apart from these the state can monitor the activities on the basis of the assessment. No requirement of permission or e-permits for interstate or intrastate movement.· In addition to adhering to all the guidelines above the travelers are required to travel strictly following the social distancing norms and wearing of face masks or face shields are mandatory.
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