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Matrix of Individual, Industry and Government Resources to Fight COVID 19

–Essential Pointers for the Travel and Hospitality Industry

While I find the Vilnius template to be a great model to follow, there are reports coming in from other places too, with organizations and individuals rising up to lend their hand in the best way they can.

Tata Group, one of the biggest and most respected conglomerates in the Subcontinent has made two strong commitments – Daily wage workers in all Tata group companies will be paid salary for the Lockdown months. Secondly, Tata outlined its move to pay the dues of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises without any delay.

Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra Group is one of the first billionaire businessmen to come ahead and provide solutions. “To help in the response to this unprecedented threat, we at the Mahindra Group will immediately begin work on how our manufacturing facilities can make ventilators. At Mahindra Holidays, we stand ready to offer our resorts as temporary care facilities,” Mahindra offered in May when the Coronavirus was seen to subsume everything around.

Sadly, no segment is being left untouched by the perils of the virus this time around. The Hotel, Travel, Aviation Industry seems to be the worst hit, worldwide.

An Italian restaurant, in the early days of the outbreak, put out a social media message requesting people to buy coupons now which could be utilized to dine in later when the situation improves, in order to keep the local restaurants afloat.

Some Airlines announced pay cuts for the top management so as to ward off the immediate and pressing business need for layoffs.

The loss to the travel and hospitality industry is immense. The recovery, experts say, will kick in possibly around the second quarter of ’21.

Travel Agents and Tour Operators project a similar timeline for business and leisure travel to recoup and return. Some say that while air travel may already be showing signs of a slow recovery, it will take until 2024 to get to pre-pandemic levels.

Analysts have forecast a loss upwards of $1.2 Trillion for the global tourism industry this year; and total job losses in the sector are staring vacuously at a figure that threatens to touch 197 million.

Yet, many top of the line hotel chains and individual hotels are braving it to once again open their doors within the templates of the new normalcy.

The local region, the community, the in-city customers have become more crucial to help with the bailout.

One thing is certain, we will bounce back. That is a fact because the human spirit is such.

Already, we are adopting new ways of doing things, whether it is work from home, or virtual meets and webinars, or working staycations, with heightened sanitization being the most luxurious service offered.

But the zeal must be tempered with reality and rationality. Perhaps it may not be wrong to err on the side of caution.

Yes, businesses must survive. But so must lives.

It is quite the conundrum, this coronavirus pandemic.

Still, I leave you with optimism rising over the pensiveness, as I bring to your attention the prophecy made by Sylvia Browne in her 2008 book “End of Days.”

While Browne wrote about the devastation the virus would unleash and the obstinacy it would show in the face of treatment, but she predicts that “the illness will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack again ten years later, and then disappear completely.”

In the interim, we would have acquired new ways to Survive, Strengthen, Sustain, Surmount, and Succeed.

That and the fact that Avi Schiffmann’s site tells us that as on date there are 164 vaccines in development!

L. Aruna Dhir
L. Aruna Dhirhttp://www.larunadhir.blogspot.com
L. Aruna Dhir is a Hospitality & Feature Writer and Columnist for some of the world’s highest-ranked Hospitality publications. Her industry writings are syndicated to the finest global hospitality bodies and used as references in case studies and hotel schools. Aruna runs an exclusive channel on the award-winning media digest, BizCatalyst 360° called “Hospitality Matters” based on her hospitality industry insight and commentary. Aruna is a recognized and national-poll winning Corporate Communications Specialist, PR Strategist, and Writer. A seasoned hotelier, Aruna loves to present hospitality industry watch, insights, case studies, and analysis to her ever-increasing base of global readership. Aruna has over two decades of experience in Hospitality Communications and Brand Management and has worked with some of the best global hotel companies. In her last corporate role, Aruna was the Director – Public Relations at The Imperial New Delhi, where she was part of the core group and was responsible for re-launching The Imperial as one of the finest hotels in India and Asia. Aruna’s hotel experience includes leading the Marketing Communications and Public Relations portfolio for flagship properties at The Oberoi Group and Hyatt International. She also helped launch the Vilases as the uber-luxury experiences from the Oberoi stable. As an industry expert, Aruna has launched brands, developed training modules, created standardization dockets on business communication, written manuals, conducted Image Study & Positioning Analysis, and led media campaigns of Australian Ministers in India. Aruna Dhir’s successful work tenure with Australia’s Diplomatic Mission in India in the capacity of Media Relations Officer, saw her working on a host of never-done-before exciting projects including the hugely rewarding organisation of Australia-India New Horizons – Australia’s largest ever Country Promotion. Aruna Dhir is the first-ever Creative Writer for the Indian greeting cards giant – ARCHIES Greetings and Gifts Ltd. The milestone puts her in the league of Helen Steiner Rice and Amanda Bradley. While with the company she came out with several series of cards sold under her byline – an unprecedented feat that has not been repeated since. L. Aruna Dhir also dabbles in poetry and has to her credit two titles of Anthologies published and marketed by Archies G&G Ltd. Aruna serves on the Board of Association of Emerging Leaders Dialogues (AELD), a front-running Commonwealth Body that works towards developing leaders and influencers of tomorrow, with Princess Anne as its international President. Aruna has been engaged in freelance work for Doordarshan – the Indian National Television, All India Radio, and Times FM. Academically, L. Aruna Dhir topped at the All-India level in her PG Diploma in Public Relations and Advertising. Aruna has been a Ph.D. scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, akin to an Ivy League in India. She has earned a Senior Management Course Certification from the Oberoi Centre for Learning & Development in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; V Dimension Management Company, London & Asian Institute of Management, Manila, Philippines. Aruna Dhir has represented India to a select group of opinion-makers in the United States, as a Cultural Ambassador under the GSE Program of Rotary International. She has also participated in the IXth Commonwealth Study Conference held in Australia and chaired by Princess Anne. Aruna is a Life Member of the Public Relations Society of India A Freelance Writer since 1987, with articles that have appeared in India’s topmost newspapers and magazines, Aruna is also a blogger, a memoirist with works published on platforms like Medium and a Book reviewer on Goodreads. In her official and personal capacity L. Aruna Dhir has and continues to work on several social awareness projects – People for Animals, Earthquake Relief, National Blind Association, PETA, WSPA, Change.org, Friendicoes to name a few. Born at Allahabad (now Prayagraj), one of the world’s oldest known cities, L. Aruna Dhir grew up and did her schooling in Dehradun, regarded as a prominent seat of academia and literature. After being brought up in the sylvan surroundings of the verdant Doon valley, Aruna chose to make the Capital City of Delhi her second home.

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