On 12 May, two months after a Covid-19 lockdown was announced in India, to take stock of the impact of tourism and devise a path forward in the mountain states of India, Karma Bhutia CEO of iShippo and other partners including Namrata Neopaney from Sikkim, Smriti Basnett from Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Future Earth South Asia Office; Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Sikkim (ECOSS) and Sikkim Chronicle Media house, organized and convened a webinar along with a group of around 82 stakeholders from the tourism and hospitality industry. The participants included eco-tourism home stay proprietors, officials from the tourism industry and entrepreneurs, economist and politicians and various stakeholders who met to discuss the challenges and devise an alternative to the most affected sector due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), up to 75 million jobs are at immediate risk in global Travel & Tourism; research from WTTC shows a US$2.1 trillion loss in GDP to the World economy and one million jobs (50% increase in jobs at risk, in less than two weeks) being lost every day in this sector. The mountain states in India are also highly dependent on tourism and therefore suffer great risk due to the pandemic. A survey conducted amongst hoteliers and home-stay owners in the Indian Himalayan states also showed a similar trend with the small-scale tourism industries and home-stay operators being hit the hardest and many had to vacate their rental homes and premises in the first 2 months of the pandemic. It was predicted that although other sectors would take 6 to 8 months to revive, the tourism sector would take up to 2 years to recover and that there would be decline in mass tourism in the coming years.

In the Webinar, the discussion revolved around concerns for 60% of the people in the hill states who directly or indirectly depend on the tourism sector for their livelihoods and that immediate steps needed to be taken up by the government and the non-governmental tourism associations, to sustain their livelihoods. A transformation to “high-end” and “small-flow” tourism was suggested as mass flow would be limited, but it was also debated that this could make tourism something only the elite can afford and that it should be able to cater to all while transforming tourism to be more sustainable. Many saw this lockdown phase as an opportunity to re-model the tourism and hospitality services, structure safety designs (hygiene and post COVID norms), and impart skill development training to the unemployed youths. The tourism association and the government departments was suggested to open a grievance cell for those affected in this sector with short term economic relief packages supported by skill development programs so that smarter programs looking into sustainable tourism packages would emerge post COVID. The new tourism model would look into rebooting, re-strategizing business models in coordination with other tourism related businesses, the model would emphasize on local tourism and increase intra-state travel destinations. Many were positive and felt that the COVID times was an ideal time to identify new tourism products—for example, new trekking routes, new experiences, destinations, set base for agro-tourism, eco-tourism, accelerate intra-state tourism and promote a localised economy. Establishment of more green spaces in urban places was also suggested as many urban settlers felt trapped during the lockdown.