Mass vaccinations would be key as anxiety rises for the country’s travel and tourism sector

<p>
The steady rise in the number of Covid 19 cases has become a cause for worry for businesses especially the travel and tourism sector. The tourism sector was one of the worst hit by the nation-wide Covid 19 induced lockdown last year.</p>
<p>
Bookings for air travel and hotels have once again slowed down. Business travel, which was beginning to pick up from January-end has once again, come to a near halt.</p>
<p>
“We were hoping to start opening up international travel by April but now again plans have been put on hold and there is uncertainty,” a senior official engaged with a private airlines major told India Narrative.</p>
<p>
Hotel executives said that there is apprehension of lower bookings as number of queries has already come down at a time, when the industry was gearing up for the summer vacation.</p>
<p>
“There was much hope for us as people were not looking at traveling abroad and many domestic tourist destinations were becoming favourite holiday spots for Indians but the situation could change once again as the number of cases is rising rapidly,” an executive at a Jaipur based hotel said.</p>
<p>
According to a study by Make My Trip in February, 65 per cent of travellers had started to search and plan for a vacation.</p>
<p>
The survey said that people were awaiting to be vaccinated. Once vaccinated, 81 per cent of the respondents could travel for leisure.</p>
<p>
“However, the vaccination exercise will take time before it starts to show results,” the executive said.</p>
<p>
As per business data platform Statista data, the travel and tourism sector in India accounted for an estimated 12.38 per cent of the total employment opportunities generated in the country in 2018. The share of indirect employment was 6.38 per cent, the website said.</p>
<p>
 </p>