With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the people and their lives have been affected. The social distancing norms and the hygiene issues completely broke down the travel and tourism sector and people forgot what holidays and vacations were. Then came the period when the clutches of virus loosened and so did the lockdown, and people got an opportunity to open their windows and step out of their homes. Trapped under boredom and fatigue due to pandemic, people wanted to visit more, spend more on their holidays and trips, and thus emerged the concept of revenge tourism. Not only domestically, this phenomenon was observed globally when people flocked to nearby tourist destinations to ease their psychological stress as and when restrictions on lockdown were lifted. Revenge tourism is a recent phenomenon that is fueled by the monotony and the boredom faced by the people during the lockdowns imposed on them. The desire to participate in such a practice has been accentuated by the strict health rules and prolonged home traps.
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With the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, people and their lives have been affected in multiple ways. Many lives have been lost, families destroyed and crippled, and those who were saved were trapped in their houses in the name of Lockdown. India also had its share from March 2020 when the first case of COVID was reported in the country. The country witnessed deadly waves where millions of people and their lives came to a standstill. It was only due to forced lockdown and other strict measures that the country could come out from the clasps of COVID. All the industries were severely impacted and faced huge losses, and one such sector was Tourism. The flights were cancelled, the hotels were shut down and the ticketing windows were deserted. It would be fair to say that Tourism was by far one sector which felt the maximum heat due to Covid, the social distancing norms and the hygiene issues completely broke down the Travel and Tourism sector and people forgot what holidays and vacations were. This was seen in both global as well as domestic tourism.
As a result of the pandemic, international tourist arrivals worldwide reached around 409,5 million in 2020, the lowest figure recorded since 1989, then went up by nine per cent in 2021. In Europe - the most visited global region by international travellers - inbound arrivals decreased by 68 per cent in the first year of the health crisis, then went up to 303 million in 2021. (https://www.statista.com/statistics/273123/total-international-tourism-receipts)
The crash in international tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic could cause a loss of more than $4 trillion to the global GDP for the years 2020 and 2021, according to a UNCTAD report published on 30 June. (https://www.unwto.org/news/global-economy-could-lose-over-4-trillion-due-to-covid-19-impact-on-tourism)
This resulted in huge economic and social loss placing over 100 million direct tourism jobs at risk, especially in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which represent 80% of the sector and employ a high share of women and young people.
The downturn in the tourism sector was primarily due to restricted mobility and health contingencies. This was further worsened by the psychological repercussions of the pandemic. The combined effect of negative emotions increased during the phase of lockdown where the intensity of emotions like “upset,” “distressed,” “and afraid was highly prevalent” (Gismero-González et al., 2020) and can lead to psychological symptoms (Hull, 2005) However efforts should be made to make the people understand the reason and necessity of such a forced lockdown as deriving people from their liberty is a daunting task and needs to be handled carefully (Brooks et al., n.d.).
Then came the period when the clutches of the virus loosened and so did the Lockdown, and people got an opportunity to open their windows and step out of their homes. Trapped under boredom and fatigue due to the pandemic, people wanted to visit more, spend more on their holidays and trips, and thus emerged the concept of Revenge Tourism. Not only domestically, but this phenomenon was also observed globally when people flocked to nearby tourist destinations to ease out their psychological stress as and when restrictions on lockdown were lifted.
Revenge Tourism is a recent phenomenon which is fueled by the monotony and the boredom faced by the people during the lockdowns imposed on them. The desire to participate in such a practice has been accentuated by strict health rules and prolonged home traps (Ghosh, 2021).
After two years of being cooped up inside, Indians are now travelling with a vengeance - 'revenge travel', as the phenomenon is called. And many, experts say, now prefer to travel within the country instead of flying to more expensive destinations abroad.
The industry is also benefiting from new trends borne of the pandemic such as micro-holidays and workcations. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-62978198)