At the Bird Group Leadership Initiative webinar, Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, spoke on the challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry. Speaking at the webinar titled 'Tourism, Hospitality & Transport Challenges', Prabhu said that the COVID-19 pandemic has clearly and indelibly changed how we live and travel with a great degree of uncertainty looming large over the tourism industry, and the industry’s biggest challenge is to reinstate a person’s confidence in travel. The new protocols will also pose a challenge to the sector as to how to keep the travel affordable while ensuring the safety of travellers, Prabhu said.

He reiterated that in the coming times, it is expected that there will also be an unemployment issue in the travel and hospitality industry, affecting the scenario at large.

This webinar was the third in the series held by the Bird Group Leadership Initiative and was conducted in collaboration with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry & WTTC. Sujit Banerjee, Secretary-General, WTTCII, opened the session and requested Prabhu to share his insights.

He added that to step up the trust factor, the hospitality industry has to dramatically change the way it operates and communicates with people. Prabhu also cautioned that the industry will have to grapple with hassles of varied hues post opening up of the sector, starting from practicing social distancing norms to managing human resources.

Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Tourism Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry said, “We are honoured to have Shri Suresh Prabhu amongst us and we welcome his valuable inputs and insights. It is little disheartening to find the sector has not been given its due importance in all the stimulus packages announced so far. We still expect prolongation if the waiver of interest on moratorium period is granted for driving liquidity into the indisposed sector till the time the industry revives.”

The hospitality sector has been one of the worst-affected sectors from the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Industry bodies have estimated that the sector could take Rs 5 lakh crore hit due to economic activities coming to a halt. The opening of the economy is, however, set to improve the sentiments and help in reviving it.