Objectives of this research were -
*To understand the challenges of a traveler, while travelling during COVID19 situation *To understand the precautions and expectations of these travelers
5. IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON TRAVELAND TOURISM INDUSTRY
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/coronavirus-pandemics-impact-on-travel-tourism-in-5-charts.html
COVID-19 pandemic
situation has impacted all the
economies of the world in
multiple ways.
National lockdown came in a
way that disrupted every
single sector and its all
commercial activities. Travel
& tourism being among the
most severely hit.
6. COVID-19 affected the Travel and Tourism sector severely. And with the ‘new normal’,
customer behavior is changing, hence making it mandatory to understand it from their lens,
therefore,
To understand the challenges of a traveler, while
travelling during COVID19 situation
To understand the precautions and expectations of
these travelers
The
Objectives
7. RESEARCH DESIGN AND SAMPLE PLAN
Geographical
coverage
AGE SEGMENTS GROUP SEGMENTS PARTICIPANTS
AGRA
18-25 Students 3
26-30 Employed 3
31-35 Family People 3
Total Participants 9
• Online interviews were conducted with each and every participant, on phone calls
• All participants were key decision maker for their travel-related decision
• Mix of online and offline users participated in the study
8. RESEARCH PROCESS FLOW
Analyze Findings
DG (Discussion Guide)
Conducted Interviews
RQ (Recruitment questionnaire )
Data Presentation
10. Traveling was one of the favorite thing what people usually like to do but, COVID19 conditions
have changed their happy space into a stressful one
HOW TRAVEL MEANING HAS CHANGED FOR THE CUSTOMER
Restrictive
Precautionary
Fearful
Selective
Excitement
Thrill
Building relationships
Learning
Relief
Self Realization
“During COVID travel seems impossible to me. I can only
think of travelling in case of family urgency or any
uncertain thing happens”
-Consumer Response
Memories
Uncomfortable
Expensive
11. Planning defines that which type of trip it is going
to be for the customer
1. Planning
Travel can basically be divided
and understood into three stages
Transit options define that how customers want to
reach to their destination
Stay place is where customers spend most of their
time during their trip
3. Stay
2. Transit
13. Planning for a trip has totally changed due to Covid-19 in terms of choice of place, the
process and availability
PLANNING: WHAT WORRIES ME?
Government Regulations
• Fear of getting stuck in a place
• Quarantine and COVID tests upon
arrival fears the customer
Bookings
• Uncertain cancellation of bookings
by the travel partner
• Only few travel partners are
available for booking
• Unaware about the area becoming a
red zone at the time of travelling
Infection
• Most considerable factor while
planning a trip
• Fear of human contact while
booking via offline mode
I have to travel to a particular place but due to
restrictions I am not able to plan a trip and also a
instant thought came to my mind that why to risk
my health just for a trip.
- Consumer response
14. COVID-19 situation leads to decisional changes in the consumer behaviour
01 02 03
Changed Booking
Preferences
Changes in the
priorities
Conscious about
Destination
selection
Let us understand these in detail now………
15. Online option has become a more convenient and safer way to book, even offline users are
going toward the online booking option
WHY PEOPLE PREFERRING ONLINE MODE OF TRAVEL BOOKING?
• Government restrictions are not
allowing to go outside
• Bookings are not fully open
• High human contact seems risky
Offline Booking
• Less human contact involved
• Sometimes emergency travel is
possible
• Customers can plan according to the
changes that are happening due to
COVID
• Available offers are giving benefits
Online Booking Offline Booking
Online Booking
I would go for online booking because online traveling site
like “MMT’has opened a chat windows to respond on
consumer queries.
- Consumer Response
16. Customers want to reduce the risk and uncertainty on their trip, and for that they have
become very conscious about selection of the right place for their trip.
• Avoid red zone areas
• COVID-19 spread is very low.
Less Cases Occurred
• Proper healthcare facilities
must be available at the short
distance
Medical Facilities
• Avoid the crowded places
• Would prefer tourist
destinations in off season
Less Populated
• Would prefer domestic or
nearby places
• Proper transit is available
Short Distance
DESTINATION SELECTION FACTORS THAT A CUSTOMER LOOKING
I do not want to visit such place which is in red zone. I do
not want to risk my health by prioritize my zeal. It is good to
visit the places with minimum number of cases.
- Consumer Response
17. The factors involved in planning a travel get more skewed towards safety, hygiene, and
precautions to be taken, instead of just being limited to budget and place to visit
CHANGING PRIORITY SEQUENCE OF PLANNING FACTORS
No! budget should not be in this list because I think nobody concerning about budget
more than his safety. There are other factors that are more riskier for me and my family
so if I have to spend something more I would not hesitate.
- Consumer Response
Budget
Occasion
Reason of
trip
Location
Mode of Transit
Budget
Reason of
trip
BEFORE
AFTER
18. While using online mode for booking, consumers feel that online sites should put some extra
efforts to make them feel more informed and secured
Information Helpdesk One stop shop
A one stop shop where customer can book
whole trip without connecting with any other
website or travel partner
A helpdesk where all information is available
related to flight schedule, precautions, restrictions,
cancellation etc.
For my future trip if one travel partner can
handle my whole trip from picking me up
to dropping me at home after completing
my trip that would be great
- Consumer Response
WHAT ARE THE CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS FROM A TRAVEL PARTNER :
Reliable Travel Partner
Seek certified assurances/ guarantees of safety or
a global players expected to deal with demands of
pandemic better
20. Selecting the right mode of transit is the most crucial decision given the high risk of infection
being involved
TRANSIT: WHAT WORRIES ME?
Overcrowded
mode of transit
I have to travel to a particular place but due to
restrictions I am not able to plan a trip and also a
instant thought came to my mind that why to risk
my health just for a trip.
- Consumer response
Effectiveness of
sanitization
measures
Risk of
asymptomatic
people
Mostly in India people don’t follow the rules.
Government promoting to use precautions but
nobody wears mask. Then how can I trust that
going out for any purpose is safe for me.
- Consumer response
21. 01
Personal Cab
For all the safety
precautions and preferred
travel distance,
customer’s first choice in
the pandemic situation is
personal cab
02
Flight
If customer can rely on
any other transit option
after personal cab for
long distance trip that
transit option is Flight
Customers are preferring personal
or less populated, more hygienic
modes of transit to avoid the
exposure, contact with co-
passengers
I usually would select that option where i
could come into less human contact, and what
would be the better option than personal cab.
Yeah, there are some disadvantages of
personal cab that I cannot travel too far but
still I would say that it is the best option for
safety purpose
-Consumer Response
TRANSIT: DECIDING BETWEEN MODES
22. Few things a customer would always ensure before taking these two transit options for his
own safety purpose
• Driver follows
COVID19 personal
precautionary rules
strictly
• Pre and post-ride
vehicle sanitization
• Plastic sheet between
driver and passengers
space
• Safety advice should
be followed at the
airport as well as in
the flight itself
• Full refund should be
provided
• COVID medical
equipment and
doctors should be the
part of cabin staff
EXPECTATIONS FROM PREFERRED TRANSIT
If I talk about social distancing, airport areas
are crowded. So, we don’t know what is going to
happen with us. Little bit of fear will be there, but
hopefully, airlines will be taking care of social
distancing as well as sanitization.”
- Consumer response
I will travel only by my car, and will chooses
places where we can go by road. It is safe, and I
wont have to worry at least for the journey part
of my trip.”
- Consumer response
24. Safety and hygiene remains to be the paramount concerns while selecting their temporary
abode
Improper
Sanitization
Violation of social
distancing
Infection from common
areas
Health condition
of staff
STAY OPTIONS: WHAT WORRIES ME?
While staying at the hotel I always have a fear
of getting infected from other tourists and staff.
therefore I should try my best to avoid places
where social distancing is not possible.
-Consumer Response
There is no proof that hotels maintaining
hygiene
-Consumer Response
25. Changes that customers are adopting while
selecting their stay
STAY: DECIDING THE BEST AVAILABLE OPTIONS
• Customer staying only in 5 star & 3 star hotels
• Customer spend their most of the time inside hotel only
• Customers also avoid the unnecessary interaction with the other
visitors and hotel staff
For stay option i would prefer 5 star hotels. They
have the best cleaned air conditioners, rooms, well
maintained hygienic common areas They have a
brand image and will try to maintain it at their
best.”
-Consumer Response
26. Expectations from the hotels have increased, as customers plan to spend most of their time
in-house, while being cautious about minimal exposure with co-residents
• Staff using precautionary items
• Focuses on hygienic food
• Supervising that need restrictions are being followed by the guests as
well as staff
Hospitality
• Digital payments of bills
• Virtual views on the TV of restaurants, lobby, and bars to see the
atmosphere to avoid crowds
• Using automated dish washer
.
Technology
• Medical Checkups for all the guests and staff
• Emergency quarantine rooms should be available
Medical Facilities
WHAT MAKES A SAFE STAY?
27. CONCLUSION
Changed Behavior
speculated that travel behavior
and mode preferences are
substantially different in pre and
post COVID
Businesses cope up
with expectations
All the travel partners and
businesses are trying to cope
up with the changing
expectations and needs of the
consumer
Hope to travel
again
COVID changed the travel
excitement into fear but people
have a hope to start travel
again.
28. KEY LEARNINGS
Defining research objectives
Preparing RQ to target the right consumer
Understanding of business problem
Constructing a comprehensive Discussion Guide
Conducting Telephonic IDIs
Analysing the qualitative data
Report writing and answering the objectives defined
Editor's Notes
$8 TRILLION in gdp , total is 80 trillion
$1.6 TRILLION IN EXPORT , total is 19.3
One effect of those limitations on travel is the reduction in the number of commercial flights.
Still, passenger revenue for airlines is estimated to plunge by $314 billion in 2020 — or a 55% drop from 2019 levels, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Hotel rates fell across all regions in March, according to data by STR, an analytics firm that tracks the hospitality sector.
the sudden halt in global travel due to the pandemic would result in more than 100 million job losses this year, according to an analysis by WTTC.
It is speculated that travel behaviour and mode preferences are substantially different during pandemic situations compared to normal (pre-pandemic) situations mainly due to the restrictions imposed by authorities and fear of infection by individuals.
COVID-19 has presented a totally different situation in front of the consumers as well as the travel businesses. All the travel partners and businesses are trying to cope up with the changing expectations and needs of the consumer
Before pandemic travel is always considered as a leisure activity that excites the consumer but when COVID hits excitement changed into fear and depression. However, our findings shows that people have still hope to travel with some extra precautions and safety measures.
