Indians not comfortable travelling for at least a year

Mumbai: Even as several states have opened their doors for tourists, a survey has showed that most people are not comfortable travelling for at least a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The states that have opened their borders for the visitors include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Goa, and Madhya Pradesh, according to the survey by Neta App. The technology platform mainly aims to foster political accountability by enabling citizens to signal a change in their political preferences at any point in time. Over 54,000 people participated in the survey across 19 states and Delhi-NCR, which was conducted between July 16 and 20.

However, it found that 71 per cent of the people surveyed said they are not comfortable travelling for at least a year, while 25 per cent felt they might only consider travelling after six months from now.

"While the tourism industry has started to make a comeback in a big way in Europe; in India, the current signals are bleak," Neta App founder Pratham Mittal said.

He added that with daily cases of coronavirus infections still rising in many states, Indian tourists would rather spend time at home than travel and put their life in danger. "We may see this change in the next six months though as indicated by the survey."

Further, the survey showed that while the state governments have announced a slew of measures to ensure safety for travellers, 68 per cent of the respondents said they are not satisfied with the precautions being taken by the governments.

The findings also pointed out that 54 per cent respondents are more comfortable staying at hotel rather than homestay (11 per cent) or with friends or family (35 per cent) fearing cross contamination due to close interactions with people.