Women Entrepreneurship in Travel and Tourism Industries: A Study on Opportunities and Challenges during Pandemic Covid-19 in West Bengal and Assam

Abstract

Travel and Tourism Industry is an important contributor to world economy. As per WTTC’s Economic Impact 2019 report, India’s Travel & Tourism GDP contribution grew by 4.9%, which was third highest after China and Philippines. Entrepreneurship is always recognized practice in tourism industry as it encourages in creative freedom and accepting challenges. Women plays very important role in this industry. Their contributions are not only restricted to employees, but also equally in business and entrepreneurship. The present study has been conducted to understand the opportunities and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in this field. Due to outbreak of pandemic Covid 19, the travel and tourism industry has been highly affected. Some of the challenges faced by entrepreneur are non-availability of finance, pressure of domestic responsibilities, stiff competition, problems pertaining to expansion/ diversification, less scope for diversification, requirement of professional expertise, lack of guidance, direction and government support etc. This paper studies the revival strategies taken up by Durga and Bihu and infers how they focus on few priority areas like maximizing use of technology in the tourism sector; promote sustainability, going green and foster partnerships to enable tourism to survive in times of Covid 19. It is also important for the entrepreneurs to follow current trends tourism trends in response to consumer behavior, especially after the corona virus pandemic. Both these entrepreneurs have initiated new concepts like ‘satiations’, short trips taking extra care for safe travels to not only revive their businesses but also do well during this pandemic time.