India’s Covid Nightmare Leaves Its Travel Industry Reeling
Photo Credit: An underground station Unsplash / Issy Bailey
Skift Take
India's devastating second wave of the pandemic is arresting the pace of the travel recovery, at least for the short-term. It's too early to tell if the shrinking industry will be able to cater to the vast pent-up demand once Covid is under control.
During the last few weeks, India has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases this year, with one Covid-19 related death being reported every five minutes — a staggering figure that has left the country in despair.
At present, India has 3,487,229 active cases with more than 300,000 new cases being reported every day since last week. The hard-hit travel industry in India, which was just starting to show some signs of recovery in February and March, is now facing a major challenge.
[caption id="attachment_427864" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Source: Visual Hunt/Trinity Care Foundation[/caption]
Skift Research’s India-based senior analyst Varsha Arora sets out the enormous challenges the travel industry is now facing.
HOTELS
THE HOTEL INDUSTRY WAS INCHING TOWARDS RECOVERY IN MARCH
The hotel industry had just started recovering in the early months of this year. STR reported that the hotels in India had achieved a 50 percent occupancy level in February 202
