Tourism hubs such as Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Kumbalanghi continue to reel under the impact of a series of natural calamities from the beginning of 2018 even as tourism industry players, especially homestay owners, hope for an image makeover during the New Year.
While the mid-August floods in the State stand out as having had the biggest impact on the tourism business, Ockhi too had left its imprint on tourism, says M.P. Shivadattan of the Kerala Home Stay and Tourism Society. He said bookings at homestays in Ernakulam district saw near 100% cancellation for about 50 days immediately after the floods.
The flooding of the Cochin international airport and shutdown in operations for 15 days saw bulk cancellations across tourism segments. There are over 200 homestays in the West Kochi area alone. Of them, nearly 100 are government-classified homestays. These small operators depend on tourists coming to the airport, making a tour of Kochi and its surrounding areas before leaving to hill stations or backwater destinations.
Bookings cancelled
However, destruction of roads and bridges in Idukki and alerts against travel to the hill destinations resulted in bookings being cancelled. The occupancy level post-floods saw a sharp drop to about 30% of the normal. However, memories of the floods have continued to linger.
Mr. Shivadattan said that exaggerated reports and misleading pictures on social media had played their part in spreading scare about the situation in Kerala.
Though there was sign of a revival about two months after the floods, frequent health alerts and weather warnings had their impact.
The homestay operators have appealed to the government to help rebuild Kerala’s image through roadshows in destinations like Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
It is important to convince the tour operators that Kerala is back to normal, said Mr. Shivadattan. He said occupancy levels had come up to about 50 per cent now with the Kochi Muziris Biennale under way. However, the arrivals have not grown to the expected levels, he added.
Climate change
Baby Mathew, president of the Kochi-based Kerala Travel Mart Society, said hotel bookings were down about 30 to 40% during 2018. “Climate has played a big role. The floods and frequent weather warnings and destruction of infrastructure contributed to the serious fall in tourist arrivals,” he said.
Mr. Mathew is optimistic that by August 2019 things will look up.