Coronavirus scare has only marginal effect on tourist footfall in city

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A few tourist destinations in the city are feeling the heat and facing cancellation of bookings owing to the reporting of three coronavirus cases in the state, but people in the industry say it has only marginally affected tourists’ inflow compared to the nipah outbreak two years ago.
UDS Hotels & Resorts CEO Rajagopal Iyer said two NRI tourists cancelled their bookings since a case was reported in Alappuzha on Sunday.

“Since three confirmed cases were reported, many tourists who had made bookings have been calling up. Domestic tourists have been asking about hygiene and safety, but the situation is not bad as the nipah scare,” said Iyer.During the nipah outbreak, there was a dip of 25 to 30 per cent in the last-minute bookings made by domestic travellers.“We had suffered a loss of `3 crore during the Nipah outbreak and it took about six-seven months for the tourist booking trend to get back on track. However, if the cases increase, the situation may turn worse,” said Rajagopal.

Somatheeram Ayurveda Resort corporate general manager Subhash Bose said:  “We haven’t had any cancellation so far. Everything is normal in the city and we’ve confirmed with our travel partners that there’s no need to panic.”

Compared to previous years, there has been an increase in the footfall of tourists in January and February. Rajadhani Group of Hotels corporate assistant general manager (sales and marketing) Akhil A Vijay said the virus scare has not affected its bookings so far. The tour operators, on the other hand, have been assuring prospective travellers of the health situation in the district.

“Things are under control as all precautionary measures have been taken by the Health Department. There’s no reason to panic,” said DTPC secretary Bindu Mani S.