By Aradhana Khowala CEO & Founder, Aptamind Partners
OPINION / TOURISM
WE NEED OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS TO DEAL WITH THE COVID CRISIS
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The travel & tourism sector is in the middle of a catastrophe and we need immediate steps and fast to stop the free fall. While the sector waits for the rescue packages, subsidies, tax breaks and emergency loans, how about racking our brains as a community to conjure up temporary respite options or out of the box solutions to numb the pain from the costs of cancellation and closures? assets – both people and places be repurposed in the short term?
Hotels as make shift hospitals
E
ven as businesses across the industry suffer, some are stepping up to offer help and even more might be called on to support the national effort. Hotel assets like many other in the sector are often underutilized, have large head counts and huge overheads. Just as clothes, furniture and many other assets are upcycled into new items, how can hospitality
30
APRIL 2020 Tourism India
Many hotel chains have gone on record to state they could turn the assets/properties into temporary hospitals if the government needs additional bed space during the coronavirus outbreak. This is not a new concept. During the World War II, militaries around the world needed housing and multiple temporary hospitals were set up for the wounded. Hospitals were set up in hotels, schools, homes, town halls to large and small private houses. Some of the most suitable ones were hotels which were established as hospitals. We now even have cruise ships in UK that have offered them as floating hospitals to help deal with the coronavirus crisis.
Talent Repurposed
Heath care workers have never been in more demand. A vaccine
is still some time away and, in the meantime, and retired medics and nursing staff are being asked to go back to work to deal with the current rate of contagion. During the war when the make shift hospitals needed to supplement workers, it was often the local women who volunteered. In this instance, it is the hospitality and tourism talent could be repurposed and retrained to do fulfil these tasks. It is normal for housekeeping staff to move to work in front office or vice versa, a lateral transfer to any other department and there is no reason why armed with competence, compassion and exceptional people skills the hospitality or aviation staff can’t move into a more clinical support role, such as healthcare assistant or support worker.
Care homes for the elderly
Our battle is so unexpected that there are no provisions made for the elderly, and they will likely be needing care and support in such
