PANDEMIC'S (COVID-19) IMPACT ON THE TOURISM SECTOR

This paper examines the impact of pandemic on domestic tourism sector in India through finding out the changes in preferences of domestic tourists due to the pandemic (COVID-19). For this purpose, primary data is collected from 364 Indian nationals to gain insights and secondary data is collected from various online sources such as reports, research articles, websites, books, etc. A structured questionnaire is developed for collecting primary data. The result of data analysis revealed that there is not much difference between numbers of people who used to travel before the pandemic and who want to travel after relaxations or vaccination according to their criteria as well as 76.2% respondents have intentions to travel for tourism activities within one year after relaxations (some or complete) or vaccination. The other findings disclosed that the history of Coronavirus cases of a state matter while choosing a destination and pandemic has influenced the preferences of the people for tourism components. These findings may help tourism as well as hospitality market players to develop new tourism products which also cover these changed preferences and help in reviving their business as well as the industry as early as possible by satisfying the tourists.