Sharing similar culture, tradition, lifestyle and cuisine, India has always have had a strong relation with the Middle East countries. This relation has also been witnessed well at the tourism front. Over the last few years, majority of the Middle Eastern destinations have witnessed a significant growth in Indian arrivals resulting into India being one of the top three source markets for most of these destinations and these numbers will definitely rise northwards in the pre-covid era as the Govt data suggests that over 3.4 million Indians stays in UAE only.
Covid-19 pandemic has brought the entire globe to a standstill and tourism is no exception. In fact, tourism has been the worst hit, with little or no movement across the globe. As per the latest estimates, post the lockdown phase and after lifting of embargoes, outbound travel will remain silent for some period, and the timeline cannot be yet predicted due to unknown variables.
In the last decade, the appetite to travel for Indian travellers has increase multifold. With a huge millennial and youth population, the urge to travel post lockdown will be high for most of the Indian travellers. With long-haul and mid-haul travel under question, experts feel short-haul destinations can surely bounce back. Can Middle Eastern destinations harness this opportunity and tap the might of Indian outbound?
Impact on tourism
Tourism is an integral part and one of the most important sectors for most of the Middle East’s economy. A huge percentage of the National GDPs have been contributed by the tourism and hospitality segment.
Speaking about the impact of COVID-19 on tourism, Khalid Jassim Al Midfa, Chairman, Sharjah Commerce & Tourism Development Authority, said, “The magnitude of the impact of the virus is on a scale we have never seen before, the tourism industry in all parts of the world has suffered immediate reverses and the long-term impact is clearly a factor that will have repercussions for an undetermined length of time. Due to the emirate of Sharjah’s close connections to the Indian market and intertwined interests, the impact of the virus and restrictions on travel between India and Sharjah is particularly noticeable.”
Most of the destinations witnessed a positive start to the year with the initial two months showcasing a growth, before the pandemic. Israel has witnessed a degrowth of 30 per cent in 2020 due to the persisting covid-19 obstacle.
Sammy Yahia, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism – India and Philippines said, “This year had been a positive start for the Israel tourism industry. Israel had already seen an overall increase of four per cent in tourist arrivals in the months of January and February credited to the Israel Ministry of Tourism’s global advertising campaigns. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, there has been a 30 per cent (approximately 321,000 travellers) decline in international tourist arrivals to Israel in 2020 (January through March 2020). From India, the decline is approximately 4,000 visitors over the same period. The financial impact from this change has also been significant. Israel’s tourism industry has been impacted by approximately US$ 500 million per month in direct revenue from incoming tourists.”
Digital and marketing strategy
Despite the standstill, tourism boards are utilizing this lull period to promote their destinations though digital means. Also, majority of the destinations are aggressively re-strategizing their marketing activities to go out in a full-fledged way.
“As a destination, we are turning to creative campaigns and virtual platforms to maintain a connection with the visitors to ensure them to stay inspired to visit Abu Dhabi soon and stay on top of their minds. Our recent virtual platform #StayCurious gives audiences a taste of the emirate’s unique ambiance and hospitality through an interactive 360-degree experience from the comfort of their own homes. People might not be able to travel right now but their minds can. They can still dream, explore, learn, connect and most definitely they can still be curious to visit us soon,” Bejan Dinshaw, Country Manager – India, DCT Abu Dhabi, said.
Speaking about digital initiatives, Al Midfa added, “We maintain a strong online presence for the emirate, launching a number of campaigns such as the #visitSharjahSOON campaign which highlights our presence in a new way during these challenging times. The campaign underlines the themes of positivity and finding moments of serenity while encouraging people to enjoy this break from daily routine enforcing the idea of “stay home now” as a method of ensuring greater community safety and health preservation, allowing society to return to normal life with a sense of hope, vibrancy and achievement when the time comes. Followers will be given hints and reminders of Sharjah’s destinations, bucket list ideas and inspirational travel suggestions, while reminding all that Sharjah’s stunning landscapes and engaging attractions wait peacefully to welcome visitors again SOON.”
Bahrain in 2016 developed an integrated strategy aimed at elevating the Kingdom’s tourism industry by attracting investors and providing a suitable environment to incubate tourism projects. The destination plans to go ahead with the same vision and a lot more focus on Indian weddings segment.
“Our marketing strategy at BTEA will remain unchanged as we continue to focus on developing unique tourism products and experiences that sets Bahrain apart from its competitors, focusing on driving in family tourism to increase the Tourism sector’s contribution to the national economy in line with the Kingdom’s 2030 Economic Vision,” Ali Follad, Tourism advisor, Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) said adding that we will also continue to work closely with our representative office in India to promote Bahrain as an ideal tourism destination for Indian weddings & corporate events through participating in events and exhibitions that provide us with the ideal platform to highlight the Kingdom’s tourism potential and promote its unique attractions. “During these events, we are also provided with the opportunity to meet, network and establish mutually beneficial relationships with representatives of the tourism industry, this further support our efforts in achieving our long-term strategy which focuses on the development of the local tourism sector and strengthening Bahrain’s position on the global tourism map,” Follad said.
Recovery strategy
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the path ahead has a lot of unseen challenges. Solutions need to be out of the box to tackle this issue. Destinations as per their estimates are drafting recovery strategies to bounce back strong.
“We see our recovery coming across three phases. The first, the pause phase, is where we are today and our immediate focus is on ensuring that the strong relief programme put in place by the Federal and Dubai government to support travel, tourism and all related sectors is swiftly executed. In the second phase, we will prepare to welcome limited travel from this autumn, as we gradually reopen sectors and markets. This prudent approach to reopening travel is a global question given many airports and air spaces remain closed, so we are working with all relevant bilateral organisations to have a coordinated approach to opening up. We’re confident that once we enter the final phase of full reopening and return of confidence in travel behaviours, Dubai will be ideally suited to deliver the exceptional customer experience in this ‘new normal’ of tourism,” a spokesperson from Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) Dubai said.
Bahrain is set to empower its private segment by organizing joint promotions and engage the travel trade across its markets. Follad added, “At the BTEA, we developed a crisis management action plan which includes developing a communication strategy and effective media engagement as well as building a trust-based coalition; keeping positive and continuous contact with tour operators and focusing on co-marketing and joint promotion with other tourism partners.”
Post COVID scenario
In the recent years, the Indian outbound has been a major highlight with significant increase in aspirational travellers segment who are venturing out to discover novel experiences. Middle Eastern destinations are confident that India will remain a major focus market post COVID crisis. Also, this will be an opportunity to increase their market share from India, as these destinations are easily accessible and already have excellent connectivity with India.
“India and Israel have enjoyed a good relationship across all sectors, including tourism. For the last few years, India has been, and still is, the second largest contributor in tourist arrivals to Israel from Asia, following China. With significant opportunities to increase tourism to Israel, we will be focusing on attracting international travellers to our destination. The current situation has had a huge impact on global economies, and we hope it is resolved soon. I am optimist that the travel industry will pick up momentum once everything returns to normal however, I believe that the industry will take time to revive, beginning with domestic sector and then building up international tourism,” Yahia opined.
As global tourism is back on track, short-haul destinations will be majorly benefitted after the domestic market. Abu Dhabi expects a spike from India market. “We foresee a spike in Indian arrivals. India is the leading overseas market for Abu Dhabi considering the country’s proximity to the emirate. I believe once this crisis subdues, closer to home will define travel for the near term. People will set their sight on short haul destinations; and long-haul destinations will take much more time to gain traction as people would prefer to stay close to the safety of home,” Dinshaw added.
Similar to the South East Asian destinations, Middle East will also get a chance to tap the weekend travel segment. DTCM spokesperson added, “India is the number one source market for Dubai, so it will continue to be a priority for us and a key focus in terms of visitation. Due to the proximity of India, it’s always been very popular in terms of short-haul or weekender trips. Looking at global trends and responding collectively to the market changes, we already see there will be a lot less group travel and a lot more FIT who will book closer to their travel date.”
Echoing similar opinion Al Midfa said, “A spike in Indian visitors to Sharjah is very much expected when the time comes to travel again. Sharjah has always benefitted from being a short-haul destination for India and this will become evident again once the threat of the COVID-19 has passed. Located at an approximate distance of 2,160 Km from India, Sharjah is just 3-4 hours away depending on the city you travel from. This means a visit to Sharjah from India can be undertaken in a weekend.”
Bahrain has recently emerged as a wedding destination for India market. Post COVID, the destination will once again look to aggressively attract this segment from India. “In the past few years, Bahrain has become the ideal destination for hosting weddings and celebrations, especially for the Indian Market. In 2019, we hosted four major Indian weddings, attracting more than 2,000 visitors and contributing US$ 5 million to the Kingdom’s GDP, further promoting Bahrain as a prime wedding destination. Hence, once things go back to normal, we will participate in various regional and international events to promote Bahrain as an ideal destination for hosting weddings and celebrations, encouraging soon-to-wed couples to select Bahrain as their destination to celebrate their special occasions,” Follad said.
Future visa regime
Currently, one of the most discussed topics across the industry is future of visa regimes and changes post covid-19 crisis.
Speaking about the visa regime, Al Midfa said, “Pre-COVID, the travel and visa requirements for Indian visitors were that all Indians with Indian passports valid for more than six months could apply for a visa through a number of agents and channels and Indian Nationals, with a valid US Visa (minimum six months) could get a Visa on Arrival at the UAE Airport. Till passenger travel between countries was banned due to the pandemic, Air Arabia operated direct flights to Sharjah from 13 Indian cities. Of course, as things are now, the situation has changed entirely but we expect the flights and visa situation to resume as much as possible when the crisis is past, bearing in mind that the travel restrictions may remain in place in some form or other for some time. While this virus is accelerating all over the world, our focus is adapting and evolving with the rest of the globe, spreading the international message of safety.”
Over the years, Israel has relaxed and simplified its visa offerings in India market. The destination is looking to further make visa availability seamless for Indian travellers. Yahia added, “Since opening the Israel Tourism Office in India, there are many visa reforms that have been introduced for travel to Israel including the opening of a Israel Visa Processing Center in Kolkata, relaxed visa documentation was brought in for applicants who have availed visas and completed travel to Schengen countries, US, Canada, Australia or Israel, one-year multiple entry visas for business travellers to Israel and changes in visa fees. Continuous efforts are being taken towards bringing more changes to make the process faster and easier for Indian travellers to visit Israel.”
Bahrain with a clear focus on attracting MICE and destination weddings are incentivizing and easing group visas which will be applicable even post COVID.
Follad concluded, “We have teams that provide support by easing the process of tourists acquiring visas in certain occasions such as wedding celebration or MICE events. Our team ensures the smooth flow of events and handles the event logistics including visas, immigration, and customs as well as obtaining permission to facilitate the entry of visitors attending the event.”
