The emergence of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus has again revised the pandemic fear and the first and major blow because of this has come upon the tourism sector.
How to begin?
There was a prominent question in the air since the Covid Pandemic started. “Who is WHO to decide the fate of the World?”. I wish to ask this more loudly today.
Omicron is the new superstar across the world. WHO has started plans to complicate things on a war foot basis without understanding the fate of the developing and underdeveloped countries. Yesterday I was surprised to see how the stock markets plunged into a deep trench. Many investors lost millions yesterday, a single day. But lucky were those who had pharma stocks which rocketed to the sky. (I don’t want to tell you how much I made yesterday!). Do you find a contradiction here?
A developing country like India and its tourism had its bitter days for almost two years. We have seen many ups and downs as far as Covid infection and death counts are concerned and gradually we reached a saturation stage to start our lives again after so many months. It took almost a year for our Ministry of Tourism to have a number of lost jobs in Tourism and its millions. Tourism used to boast that the Industry had one of the largest employment bases amounted to around 50 Million plus. Unfortunately, the government stopped at getting a count of lost jobs. They never wanted to continue counting or to sustain the human element in Tourism. No government in India did anything to sustain the entrepreneurs in Tourism.
Now with the announcement of the resumption of domestic flights in India a few days back and International scheduled flights from 15 Dec, the Tourism sector was beginning to celebrate a bit-not for a New Year party, but for a hopeful survival and revival. Suddenly comes the WHO God with a global warning (not warming) and any idiotic warning first hit on tourism. Why doesn’t this WHO insist all the governments across the world should protect the survival of its tourism stakeholders who lose their livelihood because of its daily warnings?
WHO was smart enough to light up the panic by mentioning Omicron and they kept their further meetings in abeyance which shows that their aim is something different which the world doesn’t understand.
WHO was smart enough to light up the panic by mentioning Omicron and they kept their further meetings in abeyance which shows that their aim is something different which the world doesn’t understand. Omicron is just another variant and it’s good that South African scientists identified it so quickly. The present global cry on Omicron is to kill the economies of underdeveloped and developing countries which India should not allow. By stopping the tourism business in India, we are killing many. Instead, let the government vaccinate the people in extra capacity. It’s too late for the Tourism industry to come together to make the governments responsible for the loss of livelihood in tourism for the last two years.
Unfortunately nobody questions. And our Hon. PM has asked the officials to review the decisions on the resumption of International scheduled flights. But he doesn’t mention anything about the millions working in Tourism who struggle to manage their livelihood since the beginning of the pandemic.
In my opinion, it’s time for India to take bold decisions on resuming normal life. We can’t afford a lifelong marriage with a virus that nobody has seen yet. And we boast about two indigenous vaccines. Again we have a proven Natural remedy-Ayurveda which proved its ability in treating Covid. Let us welcome the world to India to get treated in India. Let us convert a crisis into an opportunity. A country without any social security measures to protect the livelihood of its people should think bold and stay firm to bring back lives to normal.
Let us divorce Covid 19 and start our lives towards normalcy. Enough are the days of darkness and chaos. Instead, let us practice healthy protocols of social distancing and masking in public along with vaccination. When India tries to talk big on “ Nation First”, we should walk the talk by showing the world that we care capable of managing crisis. Who is WHO to decide on our lives!
Also Read: Nationalism without common sense and the Indian tourism industry
(George Scaria is the Managing Director of Keralavoyages India Pvt Ltd, a Travelife Certified Tour Operator.)
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