Difficult times ahead, says Tourist Guides Federation of South India

Recovery from this present scenario especially with regard to international tourist traffic is going to be difficult, the Tourist Guides Federation of South India, has said. The rapid spread of the corona virus has hit tourism sector badly and the tourist guides are a worried lot.

Federation president Jairaj said that it will take couple of months to activate entire flight schedules back into position.

Aviation and hospitality will get heavily hit. Many of the hotels in the month of March have decided to completely wipe out the trainee section and continue with their permanent staff and that also is getting interrupted now, he said.

All the industries associated with tourism like aviation, infrastructure etc are also getting badly impacted. Even after controlling corona, if the system has to come into the same old speed of operation, it will take a long time.

Further, the foreign travel season is going to end by April-May. Then we have corporate and domestic traffic. That also may get interrupted. Cruise ship operations will also get hit.

How can a hotel run without adequate traffic? The previous virus issues were controlled in two to three months. If it is brought under control by September-October onwards we can expect the international traffic to come in, Jairaj noted.

“We have got communication that they have cancelled most of their incoming tours. It’s probably like 100% cancellation. Without international flight operations, how is it possible to have arrivals,” he asked. “For the next 3-4 months we cannot expect any traffic.”