The current lockdown has hit hard the travel and tourism industry here bringing their entire operations to a grinding halt.
Suspension of overseas and domestic flight services as well as cancellation of all passenger train services has severely impacted the travel and tourism industry like never before. Travel agencies have remained shut for nearly a month now since the lockdown was announced in the wake of the rapid spread of COVID-19 pandemic across the globe and in the country.
The situation has come at a time when package tours both domestic and international peak during summer as the holiday season begins. But, this time around COVID-19 pandemic has completely washed out the business of travel agencies.
Travel industry circles say although the lockdown came to be announced only in March-end, the COVID-19 impact began to be slowly felt by the agencies here much earlier due to suspension of operations by some international airlines. Movement of international passengers from and to Tiruchi which remained brisk till February began to witness a down slide by the beginning of March.
Travel agents, inbound tour operators and tour planners in Tiruchi have suffered a huge hit as there has been no business from the time the lockdown was announced leading to suspension of flight and train services, says S.A. Mubashir, joint secretary, Tiruchi Tourism Federation.
This is the first time that the travel industry has witnessed such a scenario due to the pan-India and pan-global crisis arising out the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, says a manager of a leading travel agency in Tiruchi having several branches across the country.
Usually April and May are brisk periods for the travel industry in Tiruchi, however, this time it has been a ‘wash out’ for the industry, says the manager of the travel agency that organises domestic and international package tours.
Travel industry circles in the city are not sure as to when international flight and domestic operations would resume in the current scenario. Even if international services were to resume in the near future, it would still take some time as the fear of getting infected with the virus could deter passengers from travelling initially, they further say.
International movement also depends on the ground-level situation in foreign countries as many of them have also also been badly hit by the viral disease, travel agents say.
