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A majority of 70% of total respondents are expecting some sort of bailout from the government. Little more than a quarter (27%) of the respondents are expecting a GST and tax holiday from the government and 28% are expecting monetary relief. In terms of inbound agents, 81% are expecting a bailout.

Almost 18% of our respondents have started receiving enquires for travel in the future. Of this, 26% were inbound operators and 23% were domestic players. Interestingly, 13% of the participating outbound agents have received regular enquires despite being the worst-hit sector.

About 32% respondents feel that the industry will bounce back in six to nine months. But 78% feel that the recovery will take a year. A minuscule 5% are optimistic about a bounce back within the next three months.

Our findings show that there has been a permanent termination of 25% of staff because of the Covid-19 crises. This includes 40% staff in B2B agencies and DMCs that have been asked to go. GSAs report a 13% redundancy and airlines report a 10% permanent employee termination.

The result of the ‘TravTalk Salary Survey’ 2020 has revealed that GSAs are working with 80 per cent staff and only 20 percent of them have got salary cuts. Inbound agents have put only 33 percent of their staff on leave without pay. Furthermore, 14 percent of the outbound and domestic agents have reported putting more than 50 percent of their workforce on leave without pay. This survey was conducted anonymously to discuss some of the best employment practices in the industry.  

The results of the TravTalk Salary Survey 2020 have revealed that almost 77% of the industry has to opt for pay cuts to deal with the impact of COVID-19 crisis. The survey on staff salaries indicated that 90% of B2B agents and DMCs have effected pay cuts for their staff while only 67% of GSAs have chosen to cut the salaries of their staff. Around 72% of inbound companies have also implemented deductions in salaries of their employees to deal with the adverse impacts of no business in the industry. The survey was conducted anonymously (without recording any detail of the respondents) to assess and discuss the best employment practices in the industry.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) in its latest estimation based on a scenario of severe travel restrictions lasting for three months, with a gradual lifting of restrictions in domestic markets, followed by regional and intercontinental predicted that the Indian aviation sector among the Asia Pacific countries would be the worst hit as close to 29.32 lakh jobs are likely to be at risk in the sector during 2020. The report also said that the revenue of the sector in India may fall by $11,221 million this year compared to 2019. Further, passenger demand is likely to fall by 47 per cent in the country. Conrad Clifford, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific, said that airlines in the region face a liquidity crisis with a $61 billion cash burn in the second quarter of 2020.

Sharing his views during the 2nd TravTalk Digital Tourism Conclave, Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group which owns Roseate Hotels and Resorts, said, “I don’t think we will be travelling to any international destination any time soon. So the revenue will come from domestic tourists. We need to look at the localised audience rather than a globalised audience. We also need to look at the context of luxury. At this point in time, luxury is getting out of the house and meeting friends and family. The current situation is far beyond pandemic and we really don’t know when travel will resume. There is real fear in the minds of people. But when we do start to open up, we have seen globally that people will get into their cars and drive to the nearest holiday destination. We see the same thing happen in India as well. I think this is what we will see start to happen first.”  

The government has extended the deadline to submit the bid documents for Air India by two months to 30th June looking at the ongoing nationwide lockdown. This is the second time the government extended the deadline to submit bids for Air India. It had earlier extended the deadline to 30 April from 17 March. The government in January invited preliminary bids to divest its entire stake in Air India, and the airline’s subsidiary Air India Express along with its joint venture Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited. The successful bidder for Air India will be required to absorb ₹23,286.5 crores of debt after the government transfers Rs63,113 crore of debt from Air India and subsidiary Air India Express ahead of the national carrier’s proposed divestment.

Taking measures to mitigate COVID-19 impacts on the industry, the Rajasthan Government has extended a helping hand to hotels and tour operators registered in the State. According to an order by the state government, it has been decided to reimburse State Tax due and deposited by hotels and tour operators registered under Rajasthan Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The order for a reimbursement of State Tax due and deposited to hotels and tour operators will come into effect from April 1 and will remain in force till June 30. ‘State Tax due and deposited’ means the amount of State Tax (SGST) paid through debit in the electronic cash ledger account maintained by the enterprise after complete utilisation of the available amount of input tax credit of the SGST and Integrated Goods & Services Tax (IGST). This order will be applicable for taxable persons registered under the category of hotels, heritage hotels, resorts and tour operators. However, it will not cover stand-alone restaurants and clubs. Beneficiaries will be entitled for reimbursement of State Tax due and deposited in the operative period in the manner as may be prescribed, provided no reimbursement under this order is available for SGST to be leviable and paid on rental or leasing services, including own or leased non-residential property.