industry currents
hospitality will re-imagine itself Learn to bounce back!
Among the many voices speaking for the hospitality industry, there is one significant representation made by FHRAI, the large representative body of small, medium and big hotels and restaurants across the country. In this interview, Destination India speaks with Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, acting President, Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India.
How big is the problem, as you see it? Let us look at the global picture. Tourism and hospitality is $ 28Bn activity employing 6 crore people directly or indirectly. I am being asked often as to how big can the losses be, and I have started saying that to arrive at any figure, we first need to assess what the damage could be. This is possible only after the lockdown ends, and then how does the economy open up, and how travel moves forward. Till then it is anybody’s guess, though we know what costs what, and can see all that loss taking place. That is much appreciated. What is at stake? What we are seeing could be leading to the unfortunate and virtual collapse of the sector. We are in the bright red zone, the
first to get hit, and it takes us the longest to bounce back. WTO estimates that from 1.4 billion tourists last year we are likely to have 1.02 billion tourists this year, which is well back at 2012 standards/figures. If you look back, even during the SARS outbreak, there was an increase of 0.4%. In 2001, the year of the unfortunate 9/11, we witnessed an increase of 0.1%. Today, according to the WTO, the impact is estimated at 30-40%, which is also being considered a conservative figure. When we speak about hospitality and tourism, we also talk about un-classified hotels, as much as 1 to 4 and 5-star hotels. The same is
true with restaurants, whether it be a small eatery or a restaurant in a 5-star deluxe or a speciality world-acclaimed one. Establishments may differ in size, the food offered and the patronage they enjoy, but the underlying issues and concerns remain the same. FHRAI, as the apex body covering the entire spectrum of legally run Hotels and Restaurants, is taking cudgels on behalf of all of them. And to what extent is this bringing loss to the Indian economy?
destination india | june 2020 | 16
