Sustainability, Community, Engagement: Things to focus on post pandemic
To discuss ways of sustenance, economic stability, RARE India, a community of some of the best conscious luxury hotels and travel experiences in India and the subcontinent, recently organised a virtual event, RAREfied.
As Covid-19 pandemic brings the entire globe to an indefinite halt, the travel and tourism sector is battling its hardest battle to save itself from a tailspin. To discuss ways of sustenance, economic stability, life during the lockdown and the future of tourism industry, RARE India, which is a community of some of the best conscious luxury hotels and travel experiences in India and the subcontinent, recently organised a virtual event called 'RAREfied'.
This event witnessed a lineup of hoteliers, wildlife experts and hospitality entrepreneurs engaging in discussions with a multitude of audiences via digital platforms like Instagram and ZOOM. More than 2700 viewers engaged themselves during 15 Instagram live sessions of RAREfied and around 360 people participated in the 4 ZOOM sessions that were organised.
As per RARE India’s Founder Ms Shoba Mohan, “RAREfied was literally a physical event we took to the clouds, inspired by the sheer richness of content, design and concepts that are a part of the RARE India Community. The two days were to ignite memories and celebrate nostalgia around travel to India and the subcontinent, emotions that embrace every travel story. In doing this we set out product updates, some fun with music, dance and food and also celebrated the World Heritage Day hinting on the themes of tangible and intangible heritage which are key to the RARE stories.”
“Zoom Rooms and Live Instagram stories created platforms for immense engagement, while planning this event just kick started us into launching a new way to work and define how and what we should focus on in these uncertain times. Deeply concerned about the workforce in the industry, the key theme was to keep people motivated and thinking about how we re-imagine travel not only due to the Covid-19 disruption but also in a world that is constantly challenged due to climate change.” she added.
As the fear of job losses and salary cuts lingers in the tourism sector, hoteliers and industry experts briefly talked about how they are dealing with the crisis and how they are standing together with their workers during this time. Amit Sankhala, the owner of Jamtara Wilderness Camp in Kanha, Madhya Pradesh and a well-known Safari expert, stressed on the importance of community involvement. He said, "Most of the staff are from local communities and are a part of our family. During lockdown, businesses should understand that firing them would be disastrous as they won't find any other job and businesses too will not find suitable replacements for them."
