COVID-19: The Hardest Hit Industry is Not what you think
Which do you think is the hardest hit industry segment due to COVID-19?
While all other industries will rebound quickly, there is one industry that cannot rebuild itself for a considerable amount of time.
That industry is already seasonal, now this.
I think you should have guessed the industry by now – Tourism.
There are more people who are dependent on the investment-heavy tour industry than you think. That’s because tourism has been a fast-growing industry in recent times.
I cannot give a quick solution to such a huge problem in a small blog post. However, I can give an alternate perspective from another industry.
I have been in the content creation business for a decade now. Initially, I was only writing technical blog posts – both on my own blog and on a freelance basis, for other blogs.
The business initially grew quickly, that too without any major investment like ads, etc. Seems surreal right?
A business that doesn’t require capital expenditure and very minimal rental growing fast even when left on auto-mode is the dream of every entrepreneur.
But, when I started, I didn’t know that Market forces are always on the lookout for such low hanging fruits. Not just my direct competition (other blogs) but other businesses too.
In my case, advertisers started employing teams of writers to create their own content in my niche because that was much cheaper than paying for ads.
With the explosion of Internet bandwidth, Videos started becoming the most preferred way of content consumption, over blogs.
In an article about tourism sector, I am telling you all this to drill down the point that any business is vulnerable to market forces.
You may need to pivot your business model more often than you think – especially in these fast-paced technology-driven modern times.
In fact, if your business is doing quite well, that’s the time to plan for contingencies and resources needed for eventual pivoting. Why? Because that’s when you have money to save.
So what can companies that are reliant on tourism revenue do now?
- Wait until the situation settles down and tourist influx gets back to normal
- Or, use this time to improve your existing properties – Bring in those facilities your guests have been asking for, Upskill yourself and your staff (maybe learn a new language, learn digital marketing, implement a CRM…)
- Or, establish an alternate business model. Get creative – how about developing an app that will give a virtual tour using recent immersive technologies like AR/VR? Who knows? This could end up bringing in tourists physically too in the future!
If there is one thing I have learned being on my own, it’s this – there will always be Cycles in Business. What goes up will come down, what comes down will go up.
Plan for contingencies when the going is good, not when the going is bad. I repeat that because, it’s you who will have to face them – if not tomorrow, then eventually.
Destination Infinity
PS: This article was inspired by this link that said India is placed 34th in the world travel and tourism index for 2019. If you want to check the ranking of other countries, see the full report from here.
Attract the customers by lowering the prices – airlines, hotels, resorts, admission charges to important monuments and museums.
Good idea. Cool trips at a discounted pricing will be a good draw, at least to get people back in their vacation mood post CoVid-19.
Destination Infinity
Yes, it is a major challenge.
You are right tourism is a difficult segment.
But I have a feeling that after having been confined to their homes for a long time, many people will be only too eager to travel out.
Eventually after many months – yes. But the sector needs to survive till then!
Destination Infinity
Especially this being a summer time, this lockdown will hit hard on tourism based on hill stations where people throng to avoid summer heat. I know this is the time the local business people wait for the remaining years and it will put a large hole in their pockets. Wish the situation turn better and favor soon
Ya, that’s true. But this is also a reminder that we cannot always put all our eggs in one basket. We need to learn to diversify our income sources, at least to face times like these…
Destination Infinity