We have never been more enlightenment ened, more involved, and more affected by a pandemic than this one. COVID-19 has put life on hold for many of us. The outbreak has altered the way we work, the way we interact with people, buy things, travel, and so on.

Tourism in India is important for its economy. In fact, the industry has been a significant contributor to the country’s GDP – almost 9.2% in 2018. And tourism alone supports approx 50 million jobs. So when by mid-March, the popular tourist attractions in India started to close down, and the news on sealing our borders began to make rounds, all roads pointed to an abrupt end of tourism in 2020 especially with the shutting down of the iconic Taj Mahal on March 17 which attracts millions of visitors every year.

Whenever there has been any major impact on the economy of any country, tourism has always been the first one to get affected as people start to cut down on their travel budgets first. However, tourism relatively had a direct role to play when it comes to COVID-19. Therefore, It became quite clear that all our travel plans were put on hold indefinitely. But there is also another side to the repercussions on tourism due to the COVID 19 pandemic, and here’s why we think tourism in India will come out stronger and more resilient once all of this over.

1. Lockdown has given time for nature to heal

With humans locked indoors, nature got its sweet time to heal. From Noida to Kozhikode, rare species of animals are valiantly walking into cities, revisiting old habitats. And with factories shut and vehicles off the road, the skies have never looked so blue. Air quality has improved across the country with a drastic drop in the pollution levels in almost every major city.

Thanks to the lockdown, Delhi’s air quality index came down from 161 to 82. So, while people are combating the COVID-19 virus, the shutdown has given the planet a breather to recover a bit from global warming.

2. Lockdown has made people self-aware, charitable and empathetic to the local tourist economy

The lockdown showed us that society has a heart. We have seen individuals rise up to the occasion and help elders take care of their daily needs, allow house-help to stay home without fear of their wages being affected, organizations come forward to provide meals from factory kitchens to feed the needy, and administration open up stadia and public buildings to provide space for those who need shelter or isolation. In the midst of this crisis, with some serious prodding from the Prime Minister, we have found ways to support our local handicrafts, artisans, local shops, etc. thereby supporting the local tourist economy. “Vocal for Local” is a small initiative as well as the need of the hour for the nation to come together to encourage local businesses and products. By helping revive the Indian economy, we are helping create more jobs, transform business processes, strengthen efficiency, and position ourselves as a self-reliant country in the world. We need to create products and services that are made in India, made for India. Hence, we need to revive local industries that were previously taken for granted.

3. Lockdown has invoked a sense of national pride in people and has urged them to explore their domestic surroundings

In an attempt to boost tourism in India, the Ministry of Tourism has launched the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ campaign early this year. During the lockdown, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India as part of its ongoing engagement with industry and its audiences organized webinars on the overall theme of ‘Dekho Apna Desh’. The objective of this webinar series was to create awareness about and promote various tourism destinations of India – including the lesser-known destinations and lesser-known facets of popular destinations. With international travel still out of bounds, more and more people are likely to support this campaign and will also be more comfortable traveling in their home country rather than traveling to distant foreign countries.

4. Lockdown has created a pent-up demand that people are desperately trying to unleash

Since travel has become an important part of everyone’s life and is no longer considered as a luxury but a necessity to break away from a mundane routine and rejuvenate, we are positive that travel will revive soon. This year people missed spending their summers outdoors. Instead of scaling mountains, or eating at fancy restaurants people had to sit in their homes and apartments for weeks. Now they just want to get out of town. This pent up desire to step out will prove very healthy for tourism once it is safe to be outdoors.

Three types of travel will bounce back quickly after the lockdown lifts, according to experts.

Business travel, particularly meetings and conventions

Road trips to nearby destinations to visit friends and family

Domestic travel – Luxury getaways, including safaris and resort vacations

Research shows travelers from the hardest-hit states were the most eager to travel. There is a strong longing to connect with distant loved ones and a change of scenery. Pandemic for sure has changed some of the core reasons why we travel. One of the main motives to travel is to forget and leave work stress behind, but now people will travel to leave the stresses of the lived-in community and house/apartment life to be in another place were worrying about the problem of the pandemic is less pressing.

The recovery might be slow, but we are sure, once we manage to control this virus, the tourism industry will be the first one to see major growth. With international travel still out of bounds, people will be willing to travel domestically to be able to step outside and explore once again.

5. Lockdown has given people time to educate themselves about interesting places in the country – monuments, national parks, etc

With so many virtual tours released by the Ministry of Tourism has initiated a project, specifically designed to relieve the cooped-in travel enthusiasts and also to keep the ball rolling for travel operators. Dekho Apna Desh is a virtual tour that promotes various destinations throughout the country via webinars. Unlike other virtual tours, it not only gives an insight into all that India has in store for them along with providing in-depth knowledge of the destination, geography, rich culture, and heritage of their country. Thus educating people with interesting places, monuments, national parks they could travel to once we can shed our “new normal” and go back to our “old normal”.

“Travel Safe. Travel Responsibly”