Impact of Covid 19 Pandemic - A Study of Growth and Trends of Online Travel Industry

Abstract

The pandemic of 2019 has been a cause of disruption for many businesses however, the digital revolution around has proved to be a saviour. Online travel industry suffered unimaginable setbacks in times of lockdowns, social distancing and sealing of international borders. The unprecedented circumstances have led to anxiety and fatigue and gave way to Escapism and compensatory or revenge tourism. Against this backdrop the paper aims to understand the online travel industry globally, the factors that would shape the future of Online travel, and analyze the trends in online travel post-pandemic world. The conceptual paper integrates literature, to add value to the existing body of knowledge, to predict trends and identify the way forward for any field of research. For this purpose, data has been extracted from secondary sources from various journals, websites, and conference proceedings. Additionally, to gather particular data for qualitative analysis, the opinions of practitioners have been employed whenever available. Online travel is shaping up again, with a vengeance but a different focus. The post-pandemic trends are the inclination toward luxury stays, solo trips, and the inclusion of small travel agents, amongst others.