Hotel bookings come down to all time low; tour cancellations peak

Mysuru/Mysore: Amidst the challenge of curbing the Novel Coronavirus pandemic and the Government’s order on Friday to close down places of commerce like malls, theatres and social assembly for a week to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, the city tourism economy has taken a hit with no takers for tours and travels — local, national and international. 

The city’s purchase power too has been affected as places of commercial interests have been closed down. With economy-driving establishments closed for a week, daily wage workers who work at malls, theatres, choultries, pubs and places of social gatherings are staring at hungry days with no income and no alternative place of work. Tourism Stakeholders say that the city is losing Rs. 50 crore per day including revenue from Palace, Zoo, tours and travel and 80 percent of tourism has been affected. 

The worst affected in Mysuru are tours and travel agencies who are already reeling from the impact of COVID-19. Many of the smaller agencies, who are finding it difficult to operate, are considering shutting down operations temporarily, relieving their contractual and temporary staff. The tourism-dependent people too are out of jobs in peak tourism season from March till June. 

“We do not know how long this situation will persist and cannot foresee when things will improve. More than travelling to a place where there are no infected cases, people may be at risk during the journey itself and as such they are scared,”   said C.A. Jayakumar of Travel Parkz. Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, he said that the virus has paralysed the tourism industry. 

“From Rs. 50 crore earning per day, we have come down to Rs. 2 crore or Rs. 3 crore. Fear of the virus, the actual cases of death and people testing positive every day, posts on social media all have contributed to the loss,” he said and added that if the same situation continues, Dasara too will be affected as people will think twice to travel. 

“Mysuru’s economy depends on tourism and it generates nearly 80,000 direct jobs and thousands of indirect jobs and occupations. We receive over 3.5 million tourists annually and the turnover is estimated to be around Rs. 2,000 crore. This is a bad scene now with 80 percent of the bookings cancelled and there are no bookings for April and May. The entire travel industry is hit hard,” said B.S. Prashanth of Safe Wheels. 

“The Mysuru Travel Agents Association has urged the State government to waive quarterly tax and also provide three months’ grace period to repay bank EMIs on loan availed to purchase commercial tourist vehicles,” he explained. 

Another travel agent stated that he was considering temporarily closing his firm as he cannot afford to pay salaries to employees. “We have been receiving an average of 20 to 30 cancellations per day,” he said and added that tourists are cancelling individual travel, group tours and family tours. 

Mahendra Saliyan of Bharat International Travels said that 75 percent of car packages and air travel has been hit. “400 people have cancelled their Europe trip and there are no takers for travel to Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Spain, Italy and China, the epicentre. 

Mysuru Hotel Owners Association President C. Narayanagowda said that of the 9,500 hotel rooms in Mysuru under different categories – five star, three star and budget hotels, — only 10 percent of the rooms are booked and are occupied. “Desperate to retain customers, hotel owners are offering 30 to 40 percent discount so that they are able to maintain the hotel,” he said.