IIHTTRC 2021 (India International Hotel, Travel and Tourism Research Conference 2021) has brought together International and National experts of repute to discuss on ‘Re-Strategising Hospitality and Tourism: Through Food, Facilities and Films”
Through the necessary steps like Vocal for Local and Sustainable Development, the hospitality sector can overcome the hurdles of this difficult era and can build the local as well as rural tourism to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.
During the inaugural session, chief guest S K Misra, former principal secretary to Prime Minister, extensively spoke about the need to look at new avenues of tourism and to create more engaging experiences for the discerning traveler. He emphasised the need of National and State bodies to closely work together. He motivated the entire audience to be positive towards the future.
Keynote speaker Dr Cihan Cobanoglu, endowed chair professor and director M3 Center for Hospitality Technology and Innovation, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Muma College of Business, University of South Florida, USA.
He spoke about the efforts by hospitality industry to inculcate confidence inside every traveller. He coined the word contactless-nesses which hold equal importance in order to control the spreading of the virus further. He presented some of the contemporary solutions taken by hotels, worldwide in order to make travellers feel safe and secure. Among the many steps like contactless check-ins and payments, use of robots and advanced AI (artificial intelligence) in hotel operations are trending now.
He mentioned that although jobs are getting lost due to the role of technology, new avenues are being created for the professionals who upskill their talent for the hospitality sector.
Dr Bhandari, principal, BCIHMCT, in his inaugural address, mentioned about rural economies and the need to incentivise the development of handicrafts, local culture and cuisine and of course, facilitating easy travel to tourist circuits also. He stated that it is significantly important for hotels to identify required action plan that will address both current state and future growth in hospitality industry. Ecologically balanced and healthy practices will be the priority with a renewed focus on safety so as to motivate reason to travel for tourists. Improvement in sentiments regarding the pandemic and business activities will help in reviving our industry from the precarious impact of Covid-19.
The day two of the conference began with the key note speech of Dr Yanki Hartijasti (Department of Management Faculty of Economics and Business University, Indonesia.) She delivered a keynote on ‘Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on tourism industry’, in which she mentioned about severe economic downturns for the Indonesian tourism industry. She further mentioned the tourism strategies in the transition period where the focus should be on less crowded destinations, mostly near nature, and also the major role played by Online Travel Agents to revive the hospitality sector.
She highlighted the distinctive features of Indonesia as a nation. ‘This country is the one of the world’s largest nation with cultural and natural diversity’, she said. One of the key features of her speech was Pandemic Fatigue which has led to people being more tired at home and they are willing to travel and reach out to undiscovered destinations. Domestic tourism has been able to revive the Indonesian industry but only partially. The vaccination program from January 2021 by the government has boosted the hopes of tourism businesses and travelers as well. She emphasized the usage of technology in a more creative manner and the preference of people for less crowded tourist places.
The second key note speaker of the day was Dr Saurabh Kumar Dixit (Associate Professor and HoD (Tourism and Hotel Management), North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India)
He emphasised on the topic of food tourism all over the world, by highlighting how tourism these days are partially influenced by the food and culture of a particular region. He also talked about other major concepts such as Food Tourism Research Perspective which was further diversified into three heads i.e. Consumer, Producer and Destination Development, and there interlinkages.
He particularly emphasized on Food Tourism as an umbrella concept as it comprises of Agritourism, Food Trails, Local Sourcing, Food and Drink Events, Food Based Souvenirs and Culinary Tourism. Dr Dixit promoted the concept of Agritourism by mentioning that modern day traveller are not willing to spend their time in the urban locations and prefer to explore local ambiences. He highlighted points such as Food Trails, Food Based Souvenirs which are trending around the world. Food Tourism also plays a vital role in sustainable development of the destination by methods like – Consumption Based On Culture, Use Of Local Ingredients Can Lead To Reduction In Carbon Footprints and of course Destination Branding can also be done.
On the day three of the conference, Eminent International Speaker, Dr Eugeni Osacar, Research Director and Professor at CETT-UB, Barcelona School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy, University of Barcelona spoke on ‘Film Tourism as key factor for Destination Promotion’. He began his keynote by reinforcing that the world is facing an unprecedented global health, social and economic emergency arising as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. He stated that according to the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, the decline of 70 per cent in the first 10 months of 2020 represents 900 million fewer international tourist arrivals compared to the same period in 2019 and translates into a loss of US$935 billion in export revenues from the international tourism, which is more than 10 times the loss in 2009 under the impact of the global economic crisis.
To bring the tourists back to the tourist destination, films can be an excellent way to market that place. He emphasised that film tourism is a powerful modality that destinations have to highlight for their differentiation and visibility. According to previously available data, in 2017 about 80 million tourists chose their destinations motivated after seeing it in a movie or a series, as well as the tourist products and attractions that are linked to cinema. This is important as it represents about 6 per cent of the total tourists that year.
It is important to do strategic planning so that a territory is competitive as a shooting destination. From the marketing perspective, films can be used as a unique communication to promote a destination by depicting value-based messages for the targeted audience. Film tourism can be used as a key factor for enhancing the tourism image and creating the film tourism offers. Promotional activities using film tourism help in reinforcing the brand destination while helping in revival of tourism post the Covid-19 pandemic.
He introduced the concept of movie maps, specialised guided tours and specialised apps to revive the tourism of the popular tourist destinations. These can become the best tools for motivating travel to revive tourism and combat seasonality and to create new segments which can diversify the tourists and also motivate them culturally and give them a positive experience.