The whole world has become one family after globalization. Tourism, one of the biggest sectors has been considered as unresistant industry. In comparison to other industries, the tourism industry gets more affected due to Covid-19 virus.
Marathwada is a vast market for travel and tourism, mainly adventure, medical, wellness, sports, rural and religious tourism. In recent years, Aurangabad had experienced growth in travel and tourism aided by different kinds of travel.
Tourism sector in Marathwada generates significant revenue for the Marathwada economy. Before the onset of the pandemic, the sector was growing rapidly as it supports a large employment base in the marathwada. Today, the marathwada has many preferred destinations for both domestic and international travelers.
The business around the tourism sector is one of the main important sectors of Marathwada’s economy. Because Aurangabad city is a regional headquarter of Marathwada and tourism capital of Maharashtra state.[2] Out of 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Maharashtra, 2 of them are in Marathwada.
The tourism industry has a chain with hotels, restaurants, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, and family amusement centers, land, and air transportation which have been afflicted by a coronavirus. This year, several tour groups from China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand have cancelled their trips to Aurangabad.
The effect of this Pandemic on the Marathwada tourism industry will not finish soon in the future because people will not feel safe to travel anywhere either outside or with in the country due to coronavirus. In a case within a country if people travel then they will like to stay at their relatives’ place instead of hotels. That is why the industry will face huge losses.
Low price range hotels in Marathwada really need to follow hygiene and sanitisation with a lot of integrity. But who will audit this and who will make sure the practices are followed? That is going to be a big challenge for Marathwada tourism.
The Maharashtra government, under the leadership of state Tourism Minister Aditya Thackeray, was in the process of formulating a new tourism policy for the state. Hope it will give strength to Marathwada’s tourism sector.
