IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE TOURISM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of COVID-19 on the tourism industry in India. The tourism industry as compared to the other important industries of a country is highly affected due to the internal and external shocks. In the past few months, the drastic outbreak of the novel coronavirus has caused great losses to the tourism industry. The Indian tourism industry accounted for 9.2% of Indias GDP in 2018 and braced 42.673 million jobs, 8.1% of its total employment.The Indian tourism and hospitality industry is now gawking at a likely job loss of around 38 million. The governments across the world are trying to woo back visitors from domestic and international markets. Travel and tourism companies will have to recuperate the trust and confidence of people in the recovery period to travel again after the pandemic. The present study suggests that the travel and hospitality sector should restructure their approach by introducing measures like changing peoples social behavior, wearing a mask when stepping out, social distancing, and hesitation to travel far distances.