Promoting tourism in South Asia

• South Asia is highly dependent on travel and tourism, especially as a generator of jobs (estimated at 47.7 million in 2019)
• COVID-19 is affecting nearly 47.7 million travel and tourism jobs across South Asia, many held by women and vulnerable communities working in the informal sector.
• Losses of over US$50 billion in the gross domestic product in the region are expected in the travel and tourism sector alone as a result of the crisis.

Challenges for regional tourism:

• Informal Tourism Sector
• Disruption Caused by Covid-19
• Geo-Political Tensions

Opportunities For the Regional Tourism:

• Niche Tourism
• Opportunity for India: Job, entrepreneurships, etc
• High Tourism Potential
• Job

Three Types of Regional Integration Activities Relevant to Intraregional COVID-19 Response and Competitiveness

Facilitating access

• Removing visa restrictions.
• Improving access infrastructure (roads, port, and rail and air, border crossings).
• Aviation deregulation.
• Easing border crossing formalities.

Improving quality

• Attracting investment.
• Service and quality standards.
• Nature and wildlife conservation.
• Codes of conduct.
• Workforce development.
• Labor mobility.

Communicating to consumers and policymakers

• Branding, marketing and promotion.
• Crisis management.
• Statistics and research.
• Advocacy.
• Stakeholder coordination.
• Increased awareness of destination communities

(Domestic Tourism Spending Percentage of Whole Economy GDP)

Way forward:

• SME Survival
• Crisis Communication
• Jobs, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Destination Upgrades
• Regional Collaboration

(Intra-regional Trips by Destination)

Conclusion:

• Despite this crisis, South Asia has a strong competitive position in the global tourism industry.
• The region’s enormous natural and cultural assets combined with strong pre-COVID domestic and intra-regional travel demand is indicative of future growth.
• The opportunity now is to seize this moment of calm to envision and build a more productive, resilient tourism sector that effectively addresses poverty and gender gaps and is based on strong regional collaboration and dialogue.