Visiting the tourists’ destinations with own vehicles or hired vehicleshas increased many folds in recent pasts. This increase has been significant after the covid-19. Majority of the Tourists have preferred this mode of travel for the shorter and moderate distance destinations. The reasons are many, like minded people in group, Independency in travel time and flexibility, Privacy while travelling, watching the countryside while travelling, having a sense of hygienic safety while travelling in self/driver driven vehicles. The tourists have taken care of themselves and their comfort very well, in advance for the destination travels. We very often consider the drivers of our own/hired vehicles as one of the dependable guide and a friend during the destination Tourism and travel. But we have not really cared for the drivers’ comfort in destination Tourism and travel. During my decades of destination travelling by road for Tourism, I have experienced and observed that our vehicle drivers need basic care and comfort especially during the night.

I would like to share about the drivers who accompanied me during my destination travels for last two decades. Generally, we get annoyed when the drivers report late for our travel trips. During the daytime everyone remain busy with their own mobiles watching their favourite topics or listening songs. In between if any interesting place or site comes, we enquire about it from the driver, if the driver does not give a satisfying reply then we develop a bad impression about the driver. Also we stop in between many times before reaching the destination. During the stay we prefer taking tea/ coffee or some snacks. But very few of us are bothered about the drivers. On few occasion we ask them for their tea/Coffee. When we reach at the destination hotels, our luggage is picked up at the reception by the Bellboys & in few occasions the driver’s help is required to unload the luggage. In the evening, we sometimes go out for visits or forfew activities in the locale area with the help of the driver. When the night falls and the driver plans to retire I feel differently for the driver. In many hotels there is no retiring rooms for the drivers and the drivers sleep in the car itself. In winter the metallic body of the car gets cool and the drivers do not carry good warm clothes with them for night purpose. They just manage to sleep the cold nights anyhow. In summer they sleep inside the cars. They cannot even close the windows of the cars and get mosquito bites and other insects. In the morning they get ready for the travel again. To get freshened up and for bathing they sometimes wait for their turn as the number of drivers are many in the same hotel. Once they freshen up and ready for the day, the provision for their breakfast is a real challenge. In many occasions, I tried to arrange the breakfast for the driver in the hotel staff cafeteria. But always the cafeteria provision in many hotels is absent. So I have to arrange the breakfast for the drivers in the nearest restaurant on the way. Managing food for the drivers is a challenge but to arrange a decent sleeping facility for the driver is a bigger challenge in any hotel.

A Lockdown Trend in Gujarat City Hotels (May-June-July2021)

Fig 1: Depicting the spread of Covid-19

The Covid-19 emerged in March 2020 in India and spread rapidlyall over the country to disturb the country’s economy. Every business sector was affected in India. Hospitality and Tourism was the worst affected. In the first wave, the hospitality&Tourism sector was severely hit as the Government forced the closure of the Hotels and the restaurants (all categories). Theclosure of the sectors too saw restricteddomestic travel by Buses, Taxis, Trains and the Airlines. The domestic travelling was totally halted in the country resulting in the zero activities in the Tourism and hospitality business. Majority of the hospitality Jobs were lost. This closure and lockdown continued from April 2020 to November 2020.From December 2020 Government relaxed the rules of Lockdown and allowed the opening of the Hotels during the day, till 7pm in the evening and the night curfew continued. The Government allowed to hotels to book banquets with 50 persons with strict riders. The Hotels and the Banquet commercial halls started operating with the 50 numbers with difficulty and a higher priced menu.