Hit the hardest due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns, India’s travel and hospitality industry is pinning its hopes on the festive season to get back on track.

According to data from MakeMyTrip, there has been a spike in flight bookings during the Diwali season, indicating that Indians may be finally ready to take to the skies again. Also, according to the data from the government, over 2 lakh 5 thousand people boarded domestic flights on Sunday; that is around 45,000 more than the passenger tally on the October 25.

So more people are taking to the skies and "revenge travel" is becoming a buzz word. This refers to compulsive travelling by people to beat the boredom brought about by the lockdown.

So what would it take for the travel and hospitality industry to bounce back from the COVID slump? CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan finds out from Ronojoy Dutta, CEO of IndiGo; Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO of Indian Hotels; and Deep Kalra, Chairman & Group CEO of MakeMyTrip.

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)