Analyzing the Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Tourists’ Psyche and Effective Implications for the Public Transport System for Safe-Travel: A Case Study on India

Year 2021, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 27 - 46, 20.04.2022

Bindu Ranga Kuldeep Singh Indu Ranga Arnab Gantait

https://doi.org/10.33722/afes.1101195

Cited By: 1

Abstract

In the process of unlocking India after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Indian tourism and transport industry is resuming to revive the economy. In this scenario, it is substantial to examine the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the travel pattern of the Indians. At the same time, making public transports safe to prevent mass transmission of the Corona-virus is equally important to ensure safe-travel. The present study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on the travel behaviour of the Indians, their readiness for availing public transports, as well as their stand on the reoperation of public transport. A total of 212 responses are collected through convenience sampling method for this purpose. The study reveals that COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected the travel pattern of the Indians. The transport sector has been considered as one of the major causes of transmission of Corona-virus whereas; railway has been identified as the riskiest mode of transport. Though many Indians are ready to avail public transport, the majority still prefer private vehicles more than anything. The Indian respondents are also found doubtful regarding the effective implementation of rules and regulations, which is no doubt crucial for safe travelling. This study will provide useful understandings to the Indian transportation authorities as well as to the Tour Operators regarding the Indian travelers’ concern for transport sector amid COVID-19.

Keywords

Transportation, Indian Traveler; Travel Behaviour, COVID-19, Tourism, India

Covid-19 Pandemisinin Turistlerin Ruhu ve Güvenli Seyahat için Toplu Taşıma Sistemi Üzerinde Etkilerini Analiz Etmek: Hindistan Üzerine Bir Vaka Çalışması

Abstract

COVID-19 salgını sonrasında Hindistan'ın kilidini açma sürecinde, Hindistan turizm ve ulaşım endüstrisi ekonomiyi canlandırmaya devam ediyor. Bu senaryoda, Covid-19 pandemisinin Hintlilerin seyahat modeli üzerindeki etkisini incelemek önemlidir. Aynı zamanda, Corona virüsünün toplu bulaşmasını önlemek için toplu taşıma araçlarını güvenli hale getirmek de güvenli seyahati sağlamak için eşit derecede önemlidir. Bu çalışma, COVID-19'un Hintlilerin seyahat davranışları üzerindeki etkisini, toplu taşıma araçlarını kullanmaya hazır olmalarını ve toplu taşımanın yeniden işletilmesi konusundaki duruşlarını araştırıyor. Bu amaçla kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle toplam 212 yanıt toplanmıştır. Çalışma, COVID-19 pandemisinin Hintlilerin seyahat modelini derinden etkilediğini ortaya koyuyor. Ulaşım sektörü, Corona virüsünün bulaşmasının başlıca nedenlerinden biri olarak kabul edilirken; demiryolu en riskli ulaşım şekli olarak belirlenmiştir. Birçok Hintli toplu taşıma araçlarından yararlanmaya hazır olsa da çoğunluk hala özel araçları her şeyden daha çok tercih ediyor. Hintli katılımcılar, güvenli seyahat için şüphesiz çok önemli olan kural ve düzenlemelerin etkili bir şekilde uygulanması konusunda da şüpheli bulundular. Bu çalışma, Hindistanlı ulaşım yetkililerine ve Tur Operatörlerine, COVID-19 sırasında Hintli gezginlerin ulaşım sektörüne yönelik endişeleri hakkında faydalı anlayışlar sağlayacaktır.

Keywords

Ulaşım, Hintli Gezgin, Seyahat Davranışı, COVID-19, Turizm, Hindistan

References

• Airport Authority of India (2020). AAI Connect Quarterly Newsletter, Jan-March-2020. Retrieved from https://www.aai.aero/sites/default/files/aaiupload/AAI_E-connect_Jan-Mar_%28Vol-XII%29.pdf
• Ali, Y., Sharma, A., and Haque, M. M. (2020). Transportation and a Pandemic: A Case Study of COVID-19 Pandemic. In Integrated Risk of Pandemic: Covid-19 Impacts, Resilience and Recommendations (pp. 283-305). Springer, Singapore. Retrieved on July 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7679-9_14
• Aloi, A., Alonso, B., Benavente, J., Cordera, R., Echániz, E., González, F., ... and Sañudo, R. (2020). Effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on urban mobility: Empirical evidence from the city of Santander (Spain). Sustainability, 12(9), 3870. 1-18.
• Askitas, N., Tatsiramos, K. and Verheyden, B. (2020). Lockdown strategies, mobility patterns and covid-19. CESifo Working Paper No. 8338, Retrieved on September 5, 2020 from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3619687
• Axhausen, K. W. (2020). The impact of COVID19 on Swiss travel. In Internet access, Automation and COVID-19: on the impacts of new and persistent determinants of travel behaviour (TRAIL and TU Delft webinar 2020). IVT, ETH Zurich. Retrieved on September 5, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000426441
• Budd, L., and Ison, S. (2020). Responsible Transport: A post-COVID agenda for transport policy and practice. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 6, 100151. Retrieved on September 5, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100151
• Cartenì, A., Di Francesco, L., and Martino, M. (2021). The role of transport accessibility within the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in Italy. Safety science, 133, 104999. Retrieved on September 16, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104999
• CDC. (2020): "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): COVID-19 Employer Information for Office Buildings." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last Updated July 9, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2020 from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/office-buildings.html.
• Circella, G. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: What does it means for mobility? Waht are the temporary vs. longer-term impacts. COVID-19 pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic: What does it mean for transportation and mobility. Retrieved October 9, 2020 from https://scag.ca.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/mtf092320_circella.pdf?1602910605
• de Haas, M., Faber, R., and Hamersma, M. (2020). How COVID-19 and the Dutch ‘intelligent lockdown’change activities, work and travel behaviour: Evidence from longitudinal data in the Netherlands. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 6, 100150. 1-14. Retrieved September 5, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100150
• De Vos, J. (2020). The effect of COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing on travel behavior. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 5, 100121. 1-6. Retrieved September 10, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100121
• DF. (2020). "MTT agrees payment mechanism with former Transantiago operators due to drastic drop in revenue". Diario Financiero. Accessed on May 22, 2020 from https://www.df.cl/noticias/empresas/industria/mtt-acuerdamecanismo-de-pago-con-operadores-del-ex-transantiago-ante/2020-05-19/195247.html.
• Director General of Civil Aviation [DGCA]. (2020). Performance of domestic airlines for the year 2020. Retrieved on October 03, 2020 from https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/?page=jsp/dgca/InventoryList/dataReports/aviationDataStatistics/airTransport/domestic/airTraffic/Traffic_Rep0820.pdfandmain4264/4206/sericename
• Dzisi, E. K. J., and Dei, O. A. (2020). Adherence to social distancing and wearing of masks within public transportation during the COVID 19 pandemic. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 7, 100191. 1-6. Retrieved September 10, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100191
• Gössling, S., Scott, D., and Hall, C. M. (2020). Pandemics, tourism and global change: a rapid assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 29(1), 1-20. Accessed on May 22, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708
• Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., and Tatham, R. (2006). Multivariate data analysis. Uppersaddle River. NJ: Prentice hall.
• Huang, J., Wang, H., Fan, M., Zhuo, A., Sun, Y., and Li, Y. (2020). Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation-related behaviors with human mobility data. In Proceedings of the 26th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. 3443-3450. Accessed on Dec 22, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1145/3394486.3412856
• Indian Railways. (2020). Indian Railways June 2020. Vol.64 No.3. Retrieved on August 18, 2020 from http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/HindiMagazine/IRJune2020.pdf 19. Inventia. (2020), COVID-19 crisis likely to hit 29 lakh jobs in Indian aviation, dependent sectors: IATA. Accessed from https://www.inventiva.co.in/trends/inventiva/covid-19-crisis-likely-to-hit-29-lakh-jobs-in-indian-aviation-dependent-sectors-iata/
• Ioannides, D., and Gyimóthy, S. (2020). The COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity for escaping the unsustainable global tourism path. Tourism Geographies, 22(3), 624-632. Retrieved on September 5, 2020 from https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1763445
• Jenelius, E., and Cebecauer, M. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 on public transport ridership in Sweden: Analysis of ticket validations, sales and passenger counts. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 8, 100242.1-8. Retrieved on Jan 5, 2021 from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2020.100242
• Jinjarak, Y., Ahmed, R., Nair-Desai, S., Xin, W., and Aizenman, J. (2020). Accounting for global COVID-19 diffusion patterns, January–April 2020. Economics of disasters and climate change, 4(3), 515-559. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41885-020-00071-2
• Kolarova, V., Eisenmann, C., Nobis, C., Winkler, C., and Lenz, B. (2021). Analysing the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on everyday travel behaviour in Germany and potential implications for future travel patterns. European Transport Research Review, 13(1), 1-11. Retrieved on June 13, 2020 from https://etrr.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12544-021-00486-2
• Kraemer, M. U., Yang, C.-H., Gutierrez, B., Wu, C.-H., Klein, B., Pigott, D. M., … Hanage, W. P. (2020). The effect of human mobility and control measuresm on the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Science, 368(6490), 493–497. https://doi.morg/10.1126/science.abb4218
• Meena, S. (2020). Impact of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on travel pattern: A case study of India. Indian Journal of Science and Technology 13(24), 2491-2501. Retrieved from https://indjst.org/articles/impact-of-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-on-travel-pattern-a-case-study-of-india
• Ministry of Civil Aviation [MoCA]. (2020). Detailed Monthly information for the month of May, 2020.https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/MoCA_Monthly_Summary_May_2020.pdf
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare [MOHFW]. (2020). Travel Advisories. Retrieved on July 18, 2020 from https://www.mohfw.gov.in/
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. [MOHFW] (2020). Instructions to all major and minor ports for dealing with novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic - reg. Retrieved on July 18, 2020 from https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/DGSOrder04of2020.pdf
• Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India. (2020). eNewsletter January-March 2020. Retrieved on July 29, 2020 from http://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/Newsletter%20Jan-Mar%2020-01062020.pdf
• MoCA. (2020). Vande Bharat Mission - Number of flight and passengers flown. Retrieved from https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/sites/default/files/flights_and_flawn_03-10-2020.pdf
• Müller, S. A., Balmer, M., Neumann, A., and Nagel, K. (2020). Mobility traces and spreading of COVID-19. MedRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.03.27.20045302
• Musselwhite, C., Avineri, E., and Susilo, Y. (2020). Editorial JTH 16–The Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 and implications for transport and health. Journal of Transport and Health, 16, 100853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2020.100853
• Nishiura, H., Oshitani, H., Kobayashi, T., Saito, T., Sunagawa, T., Matsui, T., ... and Suzuki, M. (2020). Closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MedRxiv. Preprint, April 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029272
• Olliver G, Gupta N. (2020). Rethinking India’s public transport after the COVID-19 lockdown is over. https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/rethinking-indias-public-transport-after-covid-19-lockdown-over
• Ponkshe A. (2020).Steps to restart public transit after lockdown ends. Retrieved on July 18, 2020 from https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/steps-restart-public-transit-lockdown-ends-65814/
• Prather, K. A., Wang, C. C., and Schooley, R. T. (2020). Reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Science, 368(6498). Retrieved from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc6197
• Qian, H., Miao, T., Liu, L., Zheng, X., Luo, D., and Li, Y. (2021). Indoor transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2. Indoor Air, 31(3), 639-645. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12766
• Rodrigue, J-P. and Notteboom, T. (2020). Transportation and economic development. The geography of transport systems. Routledge, New York. Retrieved on July 18, 2020 from https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter3/transportation-and-economic-development/
• Sverigesradio. (2020). The government provides money so that public transport can run as usual. https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=4916andartikel=7470922.
• The Times of India. (2020). Use of public transport likely to reduce 6 months post-lockdown: CSE survey. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/use-of-public-transport-likely-to-reduce-for-6-months-post-lockdown-cse-survey/articleshowprint/76087704.cms
• Tirachini, A., and Cats, O. (2020). COVID-19 and public transportation: Current assessment, prospects, and research needs. Journal of Public Transportation, 22(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.5038/2375- 0901.22.1.1.
• United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO]. (2020). World Tourism Barometer. 18(2), Retrieved on July 29, 2020 from https://webunwto.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2020-05/UNWTO_Barom20_02_May.pdf
• Verma, A., Jayakrishnan R., and Velmurugan S. (2020). Making public transport safe during COVID-19. The Hindu. Retrieved on July 18, 2020 from https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/making-public-transport-safe-during-covid-19/article31828057.ece
• Wachyuni, S. S., and Kusumaningrum, D. A. (2020). The effect of COVID-19 pandemic: How are the future tourist behavior?. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 67-76. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/use-of-public-transport-likely-to-reduce-for-6-months-post-lockdown-cse-survey/articleshowprint/76087704.cms
• Yauch, C. A., and Steudel, H. J. (2003). Complementary use of qualitative and quantitative cultural assessment methods. Organizational research methods, 6(4), 465-481. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428103257362
• Yilmazkuday, H. (2021). Stay-at-home works to fight against COVID-19: International evidence from Google mobility data. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 31(1-4), 210-220. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2020.1845903
• Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business research methods (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South- Western.