Tamil Nadu's H1N1 taking toll on tourism $

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TN
CHENNAI: The swine flu pandemic that claimed over 500 lives and infected thousands in the country has taken its toll on tourism in Tamil Nadu.

Government and private travel agencies estimate that the flu scare has caused a 15 per cent drop in the number of international tourists to the State.
?Despite offering the best accommodation and trips at competitive prices, there are few takers,? said K Srimathy of World Travel Club.

?In fact, a group of 30 tourists from Germany who planned to visit Tamil Nadu in August deferred their plans because they were afraid they would catch the virus.?

Tourism department data show that 1,10,268 foreigners visited the state in June and 1.62 lakh in July this year ? 30 per cent of whom were tourists. In June 2008, that figure had been higher at 1,24,570.

The June-September tourist arrivals fell below expected levels possibly due to travel advisories issued in Europe, USA and far-eastern countries over swine flu, official sources said.

When contacted, A Basheer Ahmed, Chairman, Travel Agents Federation of India (TN chapter), told Express that things could look up in December, as the industry was witnessing a few positive signs.

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Re: Tamil Nadu's H1N1 taking toll on tourism $

12.4% drop in hotel occupancy in India: Study

CHENNAI: At a time when the hospitality industry was struggling to limp back to normalcy after the terror attacks and recession, the outbreak of swine flu has hit the sector hard, resulting in a 12.4 per cent drop in overall occupancy across hotels in India, said T Nataraajan, Secretary of South India Hotels and Restaurants Association, here on Thursday.

Briefing newspersons about an all India convention of hotels and restaurants to be held at Thiruvananthapuram on December 7, Nataraajan said, though three star hotels were able to tide over the crisis, four and five star category hotels were badly hit.

The occupancy rate of hotels in Mumbai and Jaipur was down by 18.4 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, he added.

Noting that the contribution of tourism sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has dipped to 6.1 per cent in 2008-09 from 6.8 per cent in the previous year, Nataraajan said, ?We are witnessing a new trend of people using hotels only as accommodations and reluctant to utilise other services.?

Nataraajan said the two-day convention with the theme, ?Indian Tourism ? Past Learning and Future Earning?, would focus on various challenges facing this service sector including industry status for hotels and uniform luxury tax.

Listing the number of star hotels coming up in the four southern states, Nataraajan said that of the 12 five stars hotels, six are to be set up in Tamil Nadu.

?Similarly, 152 three star category hotels are in the pipeline, which have been approved by the tourism department in the respective States,? Nataraajan added.

At present a total number of 48,475 rooms are available in India, including 664 hotels housing 38,000 rooms in south India alone.

Earlier, M P Purushothaman, president of South India Hotels and Restaurants Association said, package tours to the back waters in Kerala and Sri Lanka are being arranged as part of the convention.

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