It’s one step forward....two steps back!

The business of travel presently is not for the faint hearted. After a little hint of a uptick in the latter half of 2020, we seem to be back to square one... in a lockdown like situation across major parts of the country. The second wave as they call it has hit with far greater severity than the first one. Epdiomolgists tell us it was expected but we perhaps missed the warnings in our excitement of seeing travel pick up though only slightly. Though the flights and other transportation means are still open but barely so. Restaurants, hospitality as well as large part of services are closed. The second wave besides the lockdown has also come with a complete lack of confidence in the administration and the hope that it will get better soon, unlike the first time around when the there was an abundance of both. Clearly very worrying signs for the travel trade in India in the short run. What then should be the way forward for the industry.....?

Hope and belief is not something we can let go while confidence returns and that will take some time to return. There never has been any doubt that travel will bounce back once the pandemic is somewhat in control and we are seeing some of that control coming back in parts of the world with vaccines now making a difference. This is perhaps not so in India at present. It’s in the very DNA of human beings to travel and that is not likely to change. While in the short time its difficult to predict an exact time, over a period, the sector is bound to have rebound with a greater force than we have seen in recent times. Far from being despondent, its probably a time to plan to prepare for the impending uptick in traffic that one will see once we have a little better control over the pandemic. Each of the sectors whether it is transportation, hospitality or services are headed for dramatic rise in the short run as everyone will want to travel whether for leisure or for business. We have got to have science play its role and it will is something we have got to believe. 

Confidence is something which is presently in a crisis. With rising business costs, no revenues and possibly a longish hiatus in activity one is presupposing the worst. The industry is probably the worst affected due to this pandemic but there was no help from the government earlier last year and it is safe to assume that it may not happen this time too. Not only that if there is risk to one’s or our constituents life one just stops moving forward and goes into a shell. We need to rebuild that confidence and soon. The question, then, is where do we start ? 

There is a popular saying in baseball which talks of ‘Covering your bases’. Covering your bases not only talks about strengthening your internal base but also to be prepared to get the maximum mileage out of the future. Not only do we need to pitch and strike better but also occupy all the bases such that future uptick can give you maximum advantage. Here are some thoughts and maybe some of these are difficult to implement as the cash flows have dried up-

1. Service excellence is a key differentiator in the travel sector and therefore a very important base to cover. Since part of that excellence is through people, one needs to take care of one’s key performers in these troubled times. Coupled with addition of digital processes, the endeavour should be to be service ready whenever the sector opens up. This is true across the segments like transportation, hospitality or services.
2. Hygiene and cleanliness is going to be the other differentiator when the sector opens up. Suspect customers fresh from the pandemic will have a cleanliness phobia for sometime and anyhow it could be a good addition to one’s service excellence if it also provides safety. I know most of the travel companies have already adopted these.
3. One’s customer base is the other very important pillar of our existence. It’s imperative that we remain in touch with them through communication coupled with and incentivised by thoughtful freebies to try to bring them out of travel hesitancy in the future. Customers like to be remembered and now possibly is the time to increase efforts in this area.

We collectively know that travel will be back and back with a greater force than before, though we do not know how long this hiatus will last. Therefore one needs to plan with care as the virus is still not fully in control. While, some of the actions listed above may be necessary, what one can postpone for the time being is adding of new capacity till one is more aware of the time frame. The writing on the wall at present seems to indicate domestic over international tourism, drivable destination planning, smaller and more exclusive weddings or events. There is one other area which one has ignored as an industry which needs to be done and which relates to an effective liaison with the government both central as well as state and local authorities. A lack of the same is apparent as the powers that be were either blissfully unaware the industry existed or our relationship was not good enough for them to provide that umbrella of protection. That needs to change and the time is now when we have time to regroup and rethink.

The above actions are all part of ‘Covering our bases’ and if one can be ready, rest assured that the kind of business headed our way in the foreseeable future will be more than one can imagine. Let’s reset the confidence and not lose the hope as well as belief that it will happen. We need to make it...many steps forward!