Future bookings also cancelled, but ministry says it is too early to panicNEW DELHI; The recent terror attacks in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and the violence in Jammu and Kashmir over the Amarnath land issue have hit tourism hard, with in-bound traffic dipping sharply. The last fortnight saw a whopping 30% cancellations and, experts say, the worse is yet to come, considering the unstable security situation in the country.
The Indian tourism season that begins after the end of the monsoon in September and continues till March is facing an abrupt end.
While Mercury Travels in Delhi said there have been mainly group and conference cancellations, Sita Kuani Travels said even individual travellers had withdrawn. “The blasts have hugely changed the tourism scene. A large number of conferences scheduled in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, etc, between October and January have been cancelled,” a senior manager of Mercury said.
The travel agency recently cancelled a bulk booking of 200 people from the US coming for an international women’s conference in Bangalore in October.
An STIC Travels representative said, “There is a general feeling among foreigners that markets and places of tourist interest in India are terror targets. Even removing Bangalore and Ahmedabad from the itinerary is not allaying their fears.
The tour operators were expecting heavy bookings for the forthcoming Australian cricket tour of India but have been disappointed.
Almost all countries have issued advisories to “exercise high degree of caution” while travelling to India, instilling fear among tourists. For instance, the Australian government’s website clearly says terrorist attacks increase in India during dates of national importance such as January 26 and August 15.
The tourism ministry is, however, optimistic and denies blasts as the reason for the dip in tourist inflow.
“It is quite a fragmented picture at the moment. A lot of people are changing their travel plans, but statistics up to July 2008 indicate there has been an increase in the number of inbound tourists. Till July, the arrivals were 3.15 million and the foreign exchange earning was Rs29,700 crore. So we have to wait and see,” a senior ministry official said.
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