“Be creative or fade away” – A new marketing mantra for tourism industry anticipating the third wave of Covid-19 outbreak

The travel industry, badly affected by Covid-19 was among the first businesses to shut down and probably would take the longest to bounce back. The main issue faced by the industry to bounce back is the fear factor ranging from fear of being infected or spreading infection among family and friends to fear of touching someone or being touched. Apart from this many international borders are sealed. The cities are at stand-still. To add to the situation the flights are grounded, the cruise ships are docked in harbours, the trains are inactive and even the buses are not plying. With increasing consciousness on social distancing both hotels and restaurants were shuttered for a long time and are reopening now again. Traveling plans had a setback and the mind space is overloaded with the fury of the virus, vaccine process not been completed, many are still confined in their homes and atrocities of masks and gloves. In such scenario the brands need to be creative to conquer the customers’ mind space. The study suggests the new 7Ps of marketing mix and 12‘R’s for creative marketing to cope up with the new normal. This would be immensely insightful for tourism researchers and marketers to understand, evaluate and make decisions in the current scenario of uncertainty.