Despite immense potential in the hospitality sector, there is an urgent need to have some kind of professionally run Board or a dedicated Cabinet Committee of Tourism under the Prime Minister to help resolve all legacy and immediate issues facing the hospitality and tourism sector, say experts on the third day of IHA 2020.

Should tourism be in the concurrent list (subjects in which both Parliament and State Legislatures have jurisdiction)? Should there be a dedicated 'Cabinet Committee on Tourism' under the stewardship of the Prime Minister? Or should there be a dedicated Tourism Board of India, run by a mix of professionals from the hospitality and the tourism sector? These were among the key issues extensively deliberated among the esteemed panelists on the third day of IHA 2020 organized by BW Hotelier. The session theme, incidentally, was ‘Reimagining Future for Owners, Guests & Associates through Lessons Learnt from the Past’.

The session moderated by Former MD of Starwood Hotels, Dilip Puri who is currently Founder & CEO of Indian School of Hospitality included, Kaul, current Advisor, Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts; Anil Bhandari, Chairman, AB Smart Concepts; Shantha de Silva, CEO, Plus One, GauVendi Evangelist Management Consultant & Executive Coach; Suresh Kumar, Founder, KUE Management Services and Founder & Mentor, ROSAKUE Hospitality; Farhat Jamal, Group Advisor - Hospitality, Hiranandani Group; Veer Vijay Singh, CEO & MD, Trance Hotels and Rahul Pandit, MD & CEO, Hamstede Living.

Covid Impact

With zero revenues for almost 6 months, it was clearly spelled out that the hospitality industry was trying to survive these uncertain times. Be it transforming the business to contact-less from personalized experience or being converted to quarantine facility, the hotel industry has been promptly reacting to the evolving crisis while facing the brutal brunt of having to operate, maintain and sustain the hotels and resorts while dabbling with the issues of human resource management, job losses, salary payments etc. 

Former President of Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts, Rajiv Kaul said as leaders, one has to protect the business, conserve cash-flow, manage liquidity, and eliminate expenses. “Many assumptions and changes that we are making are simply work in progress, we will have to continue to tweak this as we go along. We have to be agile and innovative,” said Kaul.

Rahul Pandit, an industry veteran, who was the President of Lemon Tree hotels, said the tourism sector had the potential to contribute 20 per cent to employment and $1 trillion to the country’s GDP by providing a sustainable job stream. “In order to drive this growth, tourism needs to be established as Concurrent List Subject in order to position it as a priority economic pillar,” he said. Pandit also pushed the idea of establishing an exclusive ‘Cabinet Committee on Tourism’ led by the Prime Minister with decision makers co-opted from the concerned ministries, industry and civil society. “If we think through this structure, and enable tourism to come onto the Concurrent List and have the PM guide the Cabinet Committee on Tourism, not only can we attract massive FDI to accelerate India’s economic recovery but also unleash tourism’s potential,” said Pandit. 

Agreeing with Pandit, Anil Bhandari, and Former Chairman of ITDC said, “The industry will continue grow despite uncertain future because it is a dynamic industry that is constantly re-inventing itself to adapt to the changing business needs.” Supporting the idea mooted by Pandit, Bhandari recalled how he have had discussions with the government in the past about setting up a Tourism Board of India that could be managed by the professionals.  

Technology, Trust, Disruptions

But how to tackle what is happening today? Bhandari emphasized that in the quest of maintaining hygiene, social-distancing norms, etc., there is an urgent need to keep an eye on reviving the hotel property as well. “One must ensure that hotels should not start looking like hospitals while keeping an eye on hygiene and safety. One needs to revive the property as well. Ensure warmth, make guests feel welcome,” he said. 

Former Head of South West Asia, IHG, Shantha De Silva spoke about the concept of trust during the current challenging times. Trust between the owner and associates and then with the guests, he pointed out. “Owners should be open and communicate with their employees whereas the associates need to take charge of the business and treat it as their own and thus together they can build the trust with the consumer,” he said. “As per reports, the ones who are traveling today are from a younger demographic than before. Therefore, start building trust and engage with new demographic,” he pointed out.

Agreeing with De Silva, Veer Vijay Singh, former COO of Taj Hotels said: “We as professionals need to give confidence to our associates. They should get some part of the remuneration especially at the junior levels.” Focusing on the current trend in the industry, even before pandemic, of alternative accommodation; Jamal who was the Former Senior VP Operations, IHCL - Taj Group said, “Globally 40 per cent of the guests look for alternative accommodation and now with going uncertainty people will prefer to stay at alternative accommodation instead of traditional hotels and we should be watchful of this disruption.”

Emphasizing on the local usage; Suresh Kumar, Former MD of Fortune Hotels said, “We need to strengthen our position by going local and continuously look at digitalisation.”