Hospitality biz unlocked

In keeping with its policy to unlock businesses in a staggered manner and in deference to the demands of tourism hotspots like Goa, Kerala and other stakeholders, the Central government gave the ailing hospitality sector respite as Lockdown 4.0 ended on May 31. Fresh guidelines allowing restaurants and hotels to open their doors to diners from June 8 inject a fresh lease of life into a sector which has been in a state of coma these past nine weeks of closure. Other than some hotels and motels that have been converted into quarantine centres or have been housing doctors and other staff on Covid duty, the hospitality sector had come to an absolute standstill. This led to the unfortunate pay cuts and layoffs of employees as cash-strapped managements were unable to sustain the manpower and infrastructure. Many an enterprise wound up, with little hope of revival in the near future as debts piled up. In Himachal Pradesh alone, the loss to hotels has been pegged at around Rs 800 crore in this period. A revenue fall of Rs 5 lakh crore is feared in the country’s hospitality and tourism segment this financial year.

Jobs in the hotel industry account for nearly 9 per cent employment and over 9 per cent of the GDP. Industry figures put the number of workers at 73 lakh. Add to it the allied livelihoods that largely thrive on the hospitality services — the airlines, tour operators, transporters, vegetable farmers, fisheries, poultry, dairy — and we have crores of workers staring at a monetary crunch or joblessness. And, this squeeze is bound to impact the already dwindling revenues of states.

However, despite the lifting of curbs in areas other than containment zones, the sector faces bleak prospects as most people are still hesitant to step out. To attract customers, the hoteliers and restaurateurs will have to spruce up their act and ensure social distancing protocols by spacing out the seating arrangement, maintain sanitation and hygiene, conduct thermal screening of the visitors and regulate the air-conditioning system so that fears of infection are kept at bay. Shrines and malls that also open on June 8 will need to adopt similar practices. The road to recovery is indeed long and weary.