Editor’s Note

‘A bend in the road is not the end of the road’

Hi folks! After a difficult 2020, we are here again, hoping to see 2021 as revolution, retrieval and rebirth. The overall tourism industry has lost its glitters during social distancing, slowly returning to normal after one of the worst pandemics of the modern era.

Very unlikely, many changes, we observed in 2020 will fade away in 2021 and beyond, yet new benefitting ideas have come out of this challenging times. The crisis has upgraded technology, created a contactless involvement, hence everyone have accepted various tech-focussed solutions.

Based on UNWTO survey, international tourism has cut down by 65 per cent in the first eight months of the year. It’s a huge loss of 700 million international arrivals created and about US$ 730 billion in export revenues from international tourism.

Even though entire 2020 discouraged growth for almost all the sectors of the industry yet aviation being the worst hit as international and domestic operations came to a sudden standstill. Adopting a whole new strategy, the airlines generated business through cargo and rescue flights.

The trends expected in 2021 probably are Urban Tourism, Rural and Nature Tourism, Domestic Tourism, Medical and Wellness Tourism, Sports Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Educational Tourism and most importantly Vaccine tourism.

However, if Vaccine tourism, a unique travel trend taking off in India, works as intended, this can be a lifeline of the tourism industry. Effectively, it can help to square off the huge loss the tourism and travel sector faced for most of 2020.

The good news of vaccines coming shortly will be a confidence booster for the international borders opening up. Domestic tourism will gain in substitution of international travel but proper and standardised safety operating measures will give it a fillip.

Enjoy 0reading!

Stay well! Stay Safe!

By Susmita Ghosh

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