hotelscapes
Uptick in hospitality will depend upon demand Says Radisson's Zubin Saxena
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ill domestic tourism rescue businesses? May be
In his admission, he is an “eternal optimist.” But the gloom and doom of what’s unfolding have mandated a serious consideration on the road ahead. “The pandemic has set the industry back by several years,” he said, sharing his first impression of the development. He noted that foreign inbound and outbound travel was going to be the most significant causality of the post-Corona world. “The phobia of travelling in an aircraft will be quite long-lasting, and international travel is sure to be impacted,” he stressed.
To say that these are testing times for the hospitality industry, may sound a trifle repetitive. But the truth be told, the industry is waging an unprecedented battle against COVID-19 – a crisis that threatens the existence of a large chunk of businesses, especially those with thinner pockets to tide over the impending liquidity crunch. Zubin Saxena, MD & VP, Operations, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, shared his understanding of what lied ahead for the industry and how travel and tourism were going to shape up in the postCorona world. He suggested a slew of measures that could provide much-needed respite to the industry in these times of crisis. Excerpts from a detailed telephonic interaction follow: The change and churn will propel tourism in India, in the longerterm, and open up new destinations, bringing about a culture of safety, security, and hygiene taking precedence over others. “It will perhaps help branded set of hotels more than the others. destination india | june 2020 | 32
He believed that these developments were going to bring about more resilience in the domestic market. “Thankfully, the domestic segment fuels almost 87 percent of the industry’s demand,” he said. Much like the USA, people were going to take more road trips and undertake train travel, he added. He expected the domestic airline market to pick-up “eventually.” “Once there is a sense of confidence in travelling safely, the leisure market is expected to pick up,” he said. He added that he expected to witness a “good demand” in the leisure market, in destinations famed for their leisure travel – Kashmir, Shimla, Manali, and Goa, among others. Saxena believed that the money, usually spent abroad, was primarily going to be
