The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the travel & tourism industry as almost all the countries have sealed their borders. In India, the industry chamber -- Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) -- has called the present situation the worst crisis to ever hit the country’s tourism industry.

Against this backdrop, Zostel, one of the largest network of hostels in India, has decided to reach out to the relevant industry stakeholders. These include café owners, adventure companies, alternative accommodation providers, property managers, and franchise owners, among others. According to the company’s official release, Zostel has invited them to join its ecosystem as it aims to support the ground-level staff as well as business partners relying on tourism to tide over the crisis.

The company mentioned that through this intervention, the brand anticipates driving a much-needed recuperative transformation within the ecosystem. Under this campaign, the hostel chain said it will also facilitate redeemable, credit-based travel packages for new-age travel-seekers at nominal prices.

Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, Co-Founder & CEO – Zostel, kick-started the initiative by addressing the travel community through his open letter. In his letter, he elaborated on the willing participation of the key stakeholder community which forms the barycentre of the travel & tourism universe: travelers.

Dharamveer stated, “While it is true that travel & tourism is one of the worst-hit sectors by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with businesses relying on tourism to sustain themselves, have come to a standstill, all is not lost yet. If all the players in the travel ecosystem rise up to the occasion and come forward to support each other, we can ensure that all of us emerge through the incumbent crisis safely and sound.”

He added: “In light of this fact, we aim to reach out to regional players across India… The travel ecosystem is highly interconnected. Therefore, we seek to enable industry stakeholders to tap into the potential of this connected ecosystem.”

According to Dharamveer, in accomplishing this, the central role would be that of those who have always formed the lifeline of our beloved travel community, the travelers themselves. Now is the time that willing members come forward and channelise their passion for travel into ensuring the survival of service providers who depend on their love and affection for their livelihoods.

Meanwhile, the CII estimated that both inbound and outbound tourism to sustain an 80-100 per cent hit in the April-July period, while the travel sentiment is being expected to drop by 40-50 per cent during the winter holiday season.

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