Role of Digital Marketing in Strengthening Indian Hospitality Industry During Covid Pandemic 2020: A Case Study of Taj Hotel

Abstract

2020 was the year when the world was strangled with a new way of living. The new normal, the pandemic which affected the daily lives of each individual and also churned many businesses into shambles. The same could be seen with the most hit sector, the hospitality industry. We are living in an era where almost everything around us is operated digitally. In the world of marketing as well, digitization has created a huge impact – brands, products, and services are reaching the people or the mass audience via the most popular online and social media platforms. We all have a basic idea about digital marketing, it is actually a digital or online method of promoting products and services through online portals and media platforms. The entire process requires a lot of involvement of the public or common people which is why it is also a great PR tool. After a long period of lockdown, the hotels and restaurants are now re-opening in full swing and are coming up with a new and advanced set of protocols to ensure a safe experience for their guests. With the introduction of the latest trends like contactless payments and the use of artificial intelligence for instance, instead of getting a physical menu at a restaurant we can now scan the bar-codes and explore the menu in digital form on our smartphones. In this paper, we shall examine the strengthening role of digital marketing in the hospitality industry by taking live case studies of the Indian hospitality industry giant The Taj group.