September 2020 - Page 9 of 9

Can Travel And Hospitality Sector Get Back In Business With Revenge Travel Amid COVID-19?

The hotel and the tourism industry was badly hit by the COVID-19 as businesses remained shut for several months. In view of the coronavirus pandemic, several people had to cancel their travel plans. Even though the numbers continue to rise across the world, however, the economies have started to open up.

The tourism industry is hopeful for a wave of ‘revenge travelling’ – people going on extra trips or splurging after the coronavirus crisis subsides because they have been deprived of it for so long.

What is ‘Revenge Travel’?

Revenge travel is a term that is being popularly used to refer to the time when people will plan extra travel and splurge as an act of revenge because they have been deprived of it for so long. The concept isn’t new. It has roots in the early 1980s in China during the devastating poverty of the Cultural Revolution where ‘revenge spending’ by consumers emerged.

With the ease in restrictions, urge among people to travel has increased

According to a report on Oaky, several surveys have been done to understand consumer sentiment. For e.g., as Wuhan’s lockdown is over and travel is opening up around China, and demand has been returning slowly. Mariott which had temporarily closed 90 hotels have resumed the operations in 60. Even though the occupancy is low, the business has started again.

According to a Washington Times report, in May, a report by McKinsey & Company found Chinese confidence in domestic travel had risen by 60 percent from its shutdown lows, as much of the country reopened. The report spoke about how travellers opted to stay close to home and go by car or train over flying. The hotels further opted for reduced capacity, mandatory masks and more stringent sanitation rules to lure the still-hesitant travellers, according to the McKinsey report.

Similarly, in India, which had undergone one of the strictest lockdowns in March has opened up its economy in phases. Hotels, lodges have reopened in the country with full attention to safety precautions and other measures.

The pandemic has caused the economy to come to a grinding halt with job losses, businesses being shut, furloughs and others. The coronavirus numbers have touched the grim mark of 25,664,094 figures across the globe as of Tuesday. However, with a slew of relaxations announced in several countries, it will be interesting to see if revenge travel can help the hospitality sector to get back to business amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hyderabad, September 1: Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Indian IT vendors are struggling, having been affected considerably over the last few months. However, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms has transformed into a tech juggernaut during this hour of crisis.Global technology companies have seen a surge in their valuation over the past six months – with the most notable example being Apple passing the USD 2 trillion mark in market capitalization (MCap) value.

On the other hand, many Indian IT vendors are struggling as they have been largely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. While traditional Indian IT services giants have been waiting to tide over the impact of the pandemic, Jio Platforms has transformed into a tech powerhouse. A study by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, stated that while it may be difficult for others to replicate what Jio has achieved, the interest in Jio will definitely augur well for other Indian technology companies at a time when enterprises across the world are gearing up for digitization.

Nishant Singh, Director of Technology at GlobalData, said that while Indian IT vendors seeing such stark contrast to global counterparts is unfortunate, this is just the nature of the IT services business model, which, in contrast to software, needs projects in the pipeline. “With the COVID-19 outbreak, enterprises halted all non-critical expenses, including plans to upgrade or transform their IT infrastructure. This has had an impact on Indian IT companies, since most of their revenues are from IT services”, Singh said.

He added saying that a lot of the faith in global technology companies comes from the fact that they have a pretty robust suite of intellectual property, including hardware, software and ecosystems that serve consumers and enterprises alike. “The growth in stock prices merely reaffirms that technology companies – primarily ‘Big Tech’ companies – are well poised to tide over the pandemic-induced recession”, he said.

A report by news agency ANI stated that big IT companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL have traditionally been IT services giants. The report adds that unlike their counterparts in the software space, IT services companies typically do not have a large stash of intellectual property, making it slightly difficult for the market to distinguish between the IT services companies. Despite these struggles, the near future should see the market showing more confidence in the traditional Indian IT vendors.

Singh further added saying with enterprises across the world now gearing up for digitization, Indian IT services vendors are set to witness a lot of action. Coupled with the market euphoria witnessed for Jio, the technology landscape in India will witness a drastic revival in investor confidence.

Jio Platforms Limited is an Indian digital services company. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited which was established in 2019. The company owns India’s largest mobile network operator Jio and other digital businesses of Reliance. On 8 May 2020, Jio Platforms was reported to be the fourth largest Indian company by market capitalization. Since April 2020, Reliance Industries has raised Rs 152,056 crore (US$21 billion) by selling 32.97% equity stake in Jio Platforms.