The year 2020 was a difficult year for all of us and especially so for the travel and tourism sector which bore the brunt of Covid-19. But the start of 2021 looked encouraging as the tourism sector witnessed a lot of positive signals such as, a few countries opening borders for international tourists, with stringent safety policies in place. Destinations were tapping into the Indian market post lockdown and there was news of the vaccines rolling out soon which made everyone gear up to restart business. However, with the outbreak of second wave of COVID 19, the environment once again has become ambiguous and the Hospitality sector faces another challenge of uncertainty over the duration of lockdowns and curfews across states.
In the beginning April 2021, the changing variants and different mutants of Covid-19 have again forced safety guidelines and lockdowns in various states. Travel bubbles between countries that were executed are now being halted. Vaccinated travellers, ease of travel, cross country movements; even cross-city movements are now being withdrawn. The travel industry is no stranger to hardship and is again facing another major challenge with the second wave. Numerous players have acted quickly to retain customer goodwill, tap new sources with innovation and focus on customer experience being prime. The key is to monitor and analyse changing mindsets and emerging habits and adapt rapidly. Even though we are facing challenges, we are encouraged by the news on vaccines for 18+ citizens announced recently and believe that individuals will want to and be able to travel soon.
As per our outlook, we believe that 2021 will again prove to be the year of road trips and domestic travel. Remote working, luxury staycations, pod travel to the concept of ‘bleisure’ combining business and leisure travel will remain to be key trends in 2021. There will be a growing need for flexible travel options. Trust will be everything! Travellers will remain cautious and will choose to holiday with brands that they trust will keep their safety as the top-most priority. Brands that have proven themselves by going that extra mile for their members will be preferred.
Previously unexplored destinations will continue to show a steady increase in 2021. Traveller & guest preferences have evolved significantly in the last one year, with hygiene, cleanliness, safety, and privacy becoming their top priorities. People will prefer smaller, independent, and contained spaces, which will be considered ‘safe havens’ for travel.
Technology adoption for hotels post the COVID impact will be at a much faster pace than witnessed earlier by the sector. We also believe that micro trips will dominate. Let’s face it, not everyone in the world has the time, money, or know-how to plan an extended vacation. That’s why 2021 is the year to embrace Micro Trips, short yet experience-dense mini vacations. Micro Trips are more work/vacation time friendly, more budget-friendly, and more schedule-friendly, yet they provide the same cultural and mental benefits as longer vacations do.
With Domestic Travel playing a major factor in the recovery of the hospitality sector in 2021, products and services offering for the domestic market will need to be re-looked at. Brands will need to get new SOP’s set up and increased technological integration into the customer experience. Last year a lot of brands used the opportunity to come up with new products and value add services that were especially targeted to enhance the customer experience during the pandemic.
The industry should now build up on all these product categories that they experimented with during the covid pandemic between last year and 2021. When it comes to resilience, the industry will always find ways to be innovative – it always adapts.
While the industry takes all possible steps to overcome the crisis and stay resilient, we should not forget that people remain key to this process. It is extremely crucial for brands to continuously upskill themselves to match the pace of the changes taking place and be ready to meet the demands of the industry. The right way forward for the industry is to keep adapting and move hand in hand towards progress and we will come out of this stronger and smarter.
