With extra attention to hygiene, a little rise in expenses, a shift in regular customs and a change of plans and desired destinations, experts from the tourism industry set the agenda for travel post COVID-19. By Chahak Mittal

Just five months ago, on the New Years’, we were making our travel plans for this year. While, for some, it was their first solo trip to Vietnam or Japan, for others, it was a honeymoon trip to Santorini that they had on the cards. For some others, it was a fully sponsored vacation by their work company to Moscow, a part of their incentive. Others were just looking forward to a long-awaited mini getaway to Pondicherry or a girls’ vacation to Goa. Everyone was dreaming of taking time off of from their busy schedules and flaunting photographs on social media. Well, people did get some time off from their offices but not in the manner anyone had imagined. An unimaginable, total lockdown, where one could not even venture out beyond one’s home, is what we got.

Now, with the Coronavirus having stolen the limelight this year, changing our life entirely, we are left wondering as to what is the future of travel post this pandemic. Until a reliable vaccine is developed, there is no assurance of reopening of the borders or travel allowances. So how long will it take for international travel bans to be eliminated? Will we be able to travel as freely as we did earlier? Will online bookings be as hassle-free? Since social distancing is here to stay, will airfares rise because of lesser number of bookings per flight? Will domestic travel see a spike? Even if airlines start functioning again, how would the safety be ensured?

Experts suggest the following changes, which are set to become a new normal in the world of travel:

New and safer hygiene regime

Experts suggest that since the industry is currently on a complete standstill, to boost travel again post the pandemic, a lot of emphasis on health, hygiene and safety will be required. “Hotels, cruise companies, airlines, attractions and more will have to cater to these practices and maintain social distancing in some ways. I don’t see it in full practice (that is, six-feet apart), but consumers and companies will have to be conscious of this,” says Varun Chadha, CEO, TIRUN (Royal Caribbean Cruises).

The industry will have to prioritise safety and hygiene at every step to rebuild consumers’ confidence in travelling again. So how will it be ensured?

Vikram Lalvani, Chief Officer, Revenue Management and Sales, Sterling Holiday Resorts Limited, suggests three things that travel companies should consider — what should we do for i) Guests; ii) Employees; iii) Suppliers/vendors?

He says, “We require a 360-degree ‘clinically’ hygiene programme, regularly, for the all employees and guests. It should begin with a well-designed protocol for hygiene and sanitisation for going in-and-out of work for the employees. All services or facilities should be opened gradually — one stage after another while considering all norms of hygiene and distancing for everyone involved. Hospitality brands, for a long time, should indulge in contact-less services or consider only organising pre-planned/combo meals for customers to avoid contact with other staff members in the chain. Last and most important, it is crucial to prove the efforts to customers to re-establish their trust. Customers believe what they see as they are just as humans as us and hence, companies should be transparent about their hygiene protocols. Moreover, travel companies have an edge over hotels and can make stricter guidelines for the guests and staff to adhere to the norms of social distancing even during travelling.”

Since travel is not just limited to commuting to and fro from a place to another, how can visa and passport application services ensure health safety and social distancing?

As per the guidelines prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as local authorities, both customers and employees at Visa Application Centres will be subject to body temperature checks, face masks and gloves for protection. Centres are also maintaining preventive measures such as disinfecting high-contact surfaces, use of hand sanitisers, and social distancing practices. The ‘Visa At Your Doorstep’ is set to be the new normal.

Experts from VFS Global tell us that they are working on the feature and post lockdowns, their staff will visit the customer’s location of choice (home, office, etc) to complete the visa application process and/or biometric enrolment if needed, while maintaining necessary health precautions.

Digital options ensuring touchless travel

The journey from airports to hotel check-ins will see the most immediate and crucial transformation — touchless travel, suggest experts.

Since hygiene is the first priority, Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, suggests that the use of high-end digital options will become the “new normal.” He adds, “There will be more emphasis on booking everything online, including more web check-ins, instead of standing in a queue to get the boarding pass. Airports will also have to change their systems of collecting the luggage and checking a person before immigration.”

Other changes in automation would be biometrics, which have already become a widely-accepted solution for identity verification and will now become more widespread as physical fingerprint and hand scanners will be phased out. Touchless options like contactless fingerprint, as well as iris and face recognition, will come into play. There will be technology for touchless data-entry such as gesture control, touchless document-scanning and voice commands, some of which are already being tested. Seating configurations in airplanes will also have to change to ensure safety and distancing.

Influence of market forces

Given that the travel industry contributes about nine per cent to India’s GDP and generates employment for more than 12 per cent of the total workforce, an absolute halt on its services is certainly a huge loss for it. As per an analysis by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the tourism industry is staring at an overall loss of Rs 5 lakh crore and job cuts impacting up to five crore people. And the aviation sector, as Rikant Pitti, COO and Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, suggests is hit the hardest. This brings us back to our question — Will airfares rise?

Rikant says, “The airlines operate on thin margins and the current situation — lesser demand, social distancing within flights — can lead to a decrease in the load factor of aircrafts, resulting in a natural increase in average break, even fares. In addition, with more checks in place and frequent sanitisation, the turn-around time of flights will also increase. The airlines will have to forgo additional revenue that they earned from beverage and snack services. Considering all these factors, the airfares are expected to rise in order to compensate for lower revenue generation and increased costs. This should change only under the condition if government announces some relief package for the travel sector and support them in recovery.”

So what about personal financial statements? How will the two be balanced out?

Varesh Chopra, Regional Director, South Asia and Middle East, Cosmos Vacations, says, “There might be some permanent cutbacks and rationalisation on business travel as it can find a virtual connect for a long time and come back later. Leisure travel may see temporary stress on demand due to changed personal financial dynamics as well, but it will never go out of vogue or demand.”

Newer tourist locations

Given the widespread reach of the virus in Europe and America, Varesh points out that they will be the first to bounce back and will not get preference over long haul travel but “only for a  while.” He adds, “There will be a shift from so-called ‘hot or bucket list’ destinations as tourism businesses are going to rethink strategies and travellers will have to settle for spots with fewer crowds.”

A spokesperson from MakeMyTrip also earlier suggested that domestic travel is the first area, that they foresee, which will likely “show green shoots of recovery and could prove to be a force multiplier for the industry to survive and recover from the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.”

Nishant adds that travellers would avoid visiting international destinations, especially, the ones which were heavily impacted by COVID-19 in short-term even post recovery. He adds, “Instead, they would prefer small domestic destinations or prefer travelling through their own vehicle to nearby locations to avoid crowds. The weekend and nearby hill station getaways are likely to gain popularity. People are likely to prefer homestay or small resorts to ensure that they come in contact with fewer people.”

The bright spots

Varesh lists some points, which, in the longer run, will prove to be beneficial for the world:

• Over-tourism will no longer be a problem for some time. And it will lead to more responsible and sustainable travel practices.
• With pollution levels evidently reducing over cities across the world, destinations will hopefully become cleaner, purer and greener once again, having some permanency to it. This, in turn, would be an added travel incentive for globetrotters.
• It will give an opportunity to hitherto unknown or underrated but good destinations and attractions which will come to the fore and receive footfalls.
• People will look for pristine and lesser-visited places with natural beauty, which are away from local civilisation and commercialisation.
• And overall, this will bring a much-desired balancing effect of the tourism industry footprint on the world and hopefully, keep emission levels down.

Considering all these points, even though the recovery will surely take some time, especially with the international travel experiences, experts definitely see a silver lining here as people are bound to get out of their homes after lockdown with a renewed desire to travel.