Hon’ble Minister of Parliament, Suresh Prabhu, speaks on challenges faced by Tourism & Hospitality industry
At the Bird Group Leadership Initiative webinar held recently ,Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Suresh Prabhu, spoke on the challenges faced by tourism and hospitality industry as an aftermath of Covid-19. This webinar was the third in the series held by Bird Group Leadership Initiative and was conducted in collaboration with PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry & WTTC.
Secretary General, WTTCII, Sujit Banerjee, , opened the session and requested Mr. Suresh Prabhu to share his insights.
Speaking at the webinar titled ‘Tourism, Hospitality & Transport Challenges.’, Mr Prabhu said that the covid-19 pandemic has clearly and indelibly changed how we live and travel with 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 safety of travellers. 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.
He added that to step up the trust factor, the hospitality industry has to dramatically change the way it operates and communicates with people. Mr 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 resource.
Chairperson, Tourism Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Radha Bhatia, said, “We are honoured to have Sh 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 waiver of interest on moratorium period is granted for driving liquidity into the indisposed sector till the time the industry revives.’
Hospitality sector has been one of the worst-affected sectors from the corona virus-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.
