The Pandemic has left every country's economy soar. The worst affected sector of the economy is the tourism and hospitality industry.

In India Tours and travel contributes 10% to GPD of the country. With the international travel bans and sealed borders, the Tourism and Hospitality industry has taken a hit.

 There was a nationwide lockdown for around 2-3 months, which restricted interstate, intercity, and international travel. The pandemic inflicted a dent in economic growth as there is yet no vaccine available.

While COVID 19 cases in India seem to be increasing at an alarming rate, the government is also worried about the economic growth and fall of the GDP. The worrisome government has eased the restriction of the lockdowns and started the phase of unlocking the nation.

The recovery rate of India is very promising but the numbers are still agonizing.

We are still in the First phase of the Unlocking, this allows interstate and intercity travel but with safety and hygiene protocols in place.

The Future of travel is very unpredictable at the moment. There are no certain figures or mathematical calculations that can determine the post-COVID 19 travel situation.

Many Experts have been talking about how travel will change Post-COVID 19, and hat new protocols and priorities for travel will be necessary.

 The First and foremost addition to the airport routine for any traveler will be that they will have to go through a safety and hygiene check.

Travelers will be witnessing limited human contact, sanitization, social distancing, temperature scanning, mandatory face covers, and masks at every airport.

There will be a change in travel habits as well, people will prefer to travel less or they will choose to travel domestic or travel to places that are not very popular among the traveler's community.

There will be a lesser number of business and leisure travels. Weekend getaways and vacations will also be less frequent as compared to the pre-pandemic days.

International travel seems to be a distant reality, for now, the restrictions will be eased gradually and with due cautions.

There will be several new additions to the travel routine post-COVID 19.

Travel Bubble

This is a very popular term that seems to be popping up whenever you search for safer travel practice post-COVID 19.

The travel bubble will allow passengers to travel between the countries which are at a similar stage of recovery from COVID 19. This will lower the chances of entering the zone of international transmission for the countries that have successfully been able to flatten the curve.

Singapore and China, New Zealand, and Australia are among the countries that have put forward the idea of travel bubbles among them. This will help in lifting the economies and also lifting some strain from the travel and tourism sector of these countries.

Selective travel bubbles are only a short term solution as it may intervene with the freedom for people to move around the globe.

Technology replacing personnel

While travel and hospitality staff was the main source for the traveler to feel welcomed in a foreign land. The airlines, hotels, and restaurants will be depending on technology more than ever, as it will help them to cut down on the cost of personnel. Keeping in mind that the passengers and guests will be more agitated considering the social distancing and limiting human contact.

This will not only make the passengers and guests feel at ease but it will also help the airports, airlines, hotels, and restaurants to limit the chances of transmission.

The innovation and technology will help the establishments to move forward and make them less dependent on personnel.

We have already witnessed the self-check-in process and online check-in process at the airports which eliminate a stage for a person to person contact.

We can take this as an example of how it will ease our travels. The tourism and hospitality industry across the globe will be highly reliant on Innovation and technology in the Post-COVID 19 Days.

Health Protocols

The aim of the Tourism and Hospitality industry will now be to give a sense of security and safety in terms of health and hygiene aspects in post-COVID 19 days.

We all know that the face cover and masks and temperature checks at airports and hotels have already begun and it is here to stay.

Sanitization, social distancing, limited person to person contact and mandatory masks and face cover are a visible relief for the passengers and guests as it gives them the assurance of safer travel and stays.

Companies might have to get hold of the personal data of an individual to determine the risk level for their health. The data will include medical records of the individual, stating if there is an underlying health condition, age along with travel history.

This data will be obtained only with the consent of the Individual. But this might become a routine practice in the future as there is not a vaccine yet available at large.

In India and many other countries, we have now been using the contact tracing applications and technology that helps to track the infected and non-infected individuals.

Airports all across the globe are scanning every passenger and employee for symptoms and temperature checks.

To make travel easy for their passenger most airlines have been giving out sanitization kits that include face covers, sanitizers, and sanitizing wipes to their passengers.

Most Airlines are leaving out the middle seats in the booking process considering social distancing.

Airports of countries like China and Singapore have started deploying sanitizing chambers. These chambers will sanitize the individuals exposed skin and clothes so that they do not act as the carrier of the Virus.

We don’t know for sure when the international travel will resume but these protocols are for sure going to help with easing the worry of the passengers and guests.

Domestic over International

While we all have been keen to travel overseas to experience the new culture and food over traveling domestic pre-pandemic, the post-COVID 19 days will flip sides.

The traveler will choose to travel and explore domestic terrains than the foreign lands, as the pandemic was the result of international transmission.

There are several countries that depend on tourism alone, these countries will be suffering losses and a decline in economic growth as the footfall of the tourist will be not the same as it uses to be.

The pandemic has deeply impacted the airline companies as less number of passengers will be getting on board. The worry is that the losses incurred by the airlines will make the air travel cost more.

Air travel will be expensive as there will be fewer passengers on board, there will be a low frequency of flights and trips will be shorter.

International travel seems to take a while to get back to normal even after the pandemic is over.

In the absence of a vaccine for COVID 19, businesses have been suffering. Small scale, medium scale business to large scale business, they’ve all endured losses. Till may take a year or two years for the businesses to get up and running as usual.

We must remember that change is the only constant, there will be better and brighter days waiting for us Post COVID 19.