NEW DELHI: The recent blasts at Bombay and Calcutta have hit tour operators and travel agencies here, the past several days have been a nightmare for most of them with business hitting a trough. Says Sanjeev Kumar who runs the Aelpe taxi service on the Delhi Agra Jaipur circuit: “All my bookings in the last 10 days have been cancelled except for one group from Germany. But even there, the number has come down from 20 to 7. And instead of a 38 seater coach, they now want a 14 seater minibus.”
In just 10 days, Aelpe has incurred a loss of Rs 50, 00 and the average number of bookings has come down from S0.aday to 10. Sanjeev Kumar is now contemplating shifting shop to south India where the situation seems relatively stable. “Out here, each time we. Begin to think ke ab theek ho jaayoga, something or the other goes wrong,” he laments.
“We could have somehow wooed back tourists had the blasts been limited to Bombay. But after Calcutta, on what grounds do we assure the foreign tourists?” queries Gursharan Goel, chief of Site Travels. This operator has lost about Rs 1 crore for March April bookings:
“This is supposed to be the beginning of the summer season but our office wears a deserted look. Two large groups from Australia have cancelled their bookings as have eight to 10 FITs (Family inclusive tours). Our Air Lanka and Royal Nepal flights (Delhi Bombay Kathmandu) are also going empty. The budget had been good and we were expecting a buoyant business, but after the blasts, everything has fallen flat. Business has never been so bleak. Not even after Ayodhya,” says Goel.
Indeed, the cancellations are pouring in, in just one week, approximately 800 reservations in hotels across the city and innumerable bookings for taxi services have been called off, various airlines are incurring heavy losses on a daily basis with the sudden spurt of “no-shows” on their international flights.
Beleaguered by the prolonged Indian Airlines strike, the demolition at Ayodhya and the ensuing riots, the Indian tourism industry has now been virtually blasted off its feet by Bombay and Calcutta explosions. With losses running into crores many smalltime tour operators are facing bankruptcy.
Compounding the problems, are the warning signals flashed by the U.S., Australian and Japanese Governments advising their nationals not to go to Delhi.
The first casualty was the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) travel man, scheduled to be held here from March 31.
Over 500 International Travel agencies were to attend the PATA travel art, slated to be the gateway to a global market for many travel agencies.
“We had been preparing for this meet for the last six months,” said Chander Mansharamani, director of Alpine Tours and Travels, whose business has dropped by 25%. “A fee of Rs 60,000 had been paid to PATA apart from Rs 50,000 for a stall at the Pragati Maidan. We had even negotiated for appointments with leading travel agents. God alone knows when we will get another opportunity like this.”
But worse still has been the overall ramification of the cancellation of the PATA mart. “It is rock bottom situation once you lose the confidence of the travel trade fratemnity itself,” says D.S.Chavda, General Manager (Operations) at Hotel Taj Palace, where the PATA authorities had booked 100 rooms.
“The winter season last year was ruined because of the events in Ayodhya, now the summer too is lost because of these blasts. And since most international tour operators plan their itinerary much in advance, there is a very distinct possibility that the summer sea= son for 1994 too would be badly hit,” says Deepika Ahuja, an Assistant Manager with Holiday Maker, The firm has already received cancellations from some Spanish groups. And as the adverse events continue to erode the exotic charm of India, the country is increasingly becoming a ‘no go land for the foreign trust.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 26, 1993
