Vasudha Sondhi on the Future of Travel
Vasudha Sondhi, the Managing Director of Outbound Marketing and Tourism, is on a roll, helming accomplished feats for her devoted clients, whether she’s crafting a destination’s image or dealing with the intrepid press. She is an important part of the travel process and has collaborated with several international hospitality companies. Vasudha founded Outbound Marketing with Sanjay in 2002, and then OM Tourism in 2008, which are now regarded as India’s expert sales and marketing firms. Sondhi is a frequent traveller who understands the needs of tourists on the spot.
She enjoys having new experiences while travelling, and it gives her great joy to meet the travel dreams of a thousand others. Her brainchild, OM, is dedicated to providing hotels and destinations with innovative marketing services. The show never ends for Vasudha Sondhi. Here’s an exclusive interview with the renowned explorer about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the industry.
Question: What is the current paradigm of OM Tourism and Outbound Marketing, given the prevailing Covid19 situation?
OM tourism is in the business of providing marketing and PR solutions to national and state tourism boards. Our destinations are continuing to engage actively with Indians even though 2020 feels like a washout. There will be limited gains in 2021 and we would like to be a top recall in the line of destinations of choice. Outbound Marketing provides sales and marketing solutions to national and international hotel chains. Most of our hotels are sadly shut, some though have opened since July.
So since March-end, we have been on a limited customer outreach program. This will pick up from August as again even though we may not expect business to bounce back immediately, we need to engage with our customers and remind them of what our hotels are doing and so on as the cost of reacquisition will be far too high a price to pay.
Question: How do you think future travel will be affected in India?
I remain cautiously optimistic about India and every other market. History has proved time and again that our resilience cannot be beaten down. Yes, we can take this year as a setback, a big setback but travel will come back. Immediate trends that I can see is work-vacations where executives working from home are travelling to better environments (beach, wellness, hills) and working from there giving a new meaning to working from home. Driving holidays to nearby destinations & wellness holidays will be the two major trends. The COVID situation has made possibly everyone aware of their health
Question: Is Indonesia and Mauritius Tourism taking any special measures while reopening the tropical getaway to international tourists?
Both Indonesia and Mauritius will take all the precautions necessary to make the destination safe and reactivate the economy by getting used to the new normal, without any fear. Both the destinations are working on finalising the norms to be followed to ensure the safety of the travellers and will soon make it public. Both Indonesia and Mauritius are finalising all safety and hygiene protocols as laid by the authorities and international organisations.
Question: You also handle a lot of luxury properties around the world. Do you think these properties will become a haven and a preferred choice for future travellers, given the high-quality services?
Most definitely. All of our hotels are most concerned about the safety and hygiene aspects and are taking the highest precautions to provide a secure environment.
Lastly, we asked Vasudha Sondhi to drop in a word of direction to people who will travel for leisure in 2020 and 2021. Her advice to splurging explorers is, “Please do travel and make good choices for places to stay-in – Don’t look for economic-options. Most destinations and good hotels are spending a lot more for your safety at this time.”
