India’s travel and tourism operators have been heavily impacted after the UAE and several other nations banned flights arriving from India as countries move to ensure that the raging wave of coronavirus spreading across India does not cross borders.
Firms in the sector – both large and small – have resorted to large-scale layoffs and industry experts said they’re apprehensive they’ll have to shut shop if the situation continues beyond a couple months.
“Most of our member firms – and we have about 2,500 members – have reported 70-80 percent staff reduction since last year. A significant part of this happened in the recent weeks after the ban on travel from India by the UAE and several other countries,” Jay Bhatia, vice president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), told Arabian Business.
“The ban on flights from India by the UAE has particularly impacted our industry at a time when the leisure travel from India was picking up since October-November with the Gulf country started issuing tourist visas,” Bhatia said.
The UAE halted flights from India on April 24 as India is experiencing a new wave of coronavirus that has seen cases in the country cross the 20 million mark. Over 222,400 people have been killed by the virus so far, according to official figures, though there is concern the country is underreporting cases.
Jay Bhatia, vice president of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)
“We understand the reason for other countries to ban travel from India as health is of paramount importance for all, and therefore we are keeping our silence [on these bans].
However, we do not know how long many of our member firms can survive now, continuing to bear the operational costs,” Bhatia said.
Dubai was the top international destination for leisure travellers from India last Christmas-New Year season, with airlines and private jets reporting heavy passenger traffic and brisk business until early March when the South Asian country was suddenly hit with the second wave of the pandemic – deadlier than the first one.
Amit Udani, executive director at Fly Aerolink Travel, a Mumbai-based travel services agency, said there is no way now for Indian travellers, except those with the Golden residency visas, to enter the UAE since the April 24 flight ban.
Bhatia said the current dire situation of the travel operators industry can be gauged from the fact that the total business turnover clocked by all the IATA (international air transport association)-affiliated firms has plunged to less than $670 million from June 2020 to March 2021, from approximately $6-6.7 billion during the March 2019 to April 2020 period.
Maldives, which was the second most popular holiday destination for Indian travellers after Dubai, has also restricted Indian tourists to uninhabited islands – islands with only resorts and no presence of local population – giving another blow to the travel industry.
“Our mainstay was Dubai ever since India re-opened international travel in June last year after a long country-wide lockdown – a city which the middle class Indians consider as a ‘best value for money’ international holiday spot, while the country’s cash rich consider it as their second home,” Bhatia said.
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