Mumbai Attack Hits Ooty's Tourists Flow

8 Room nights at Fernhill Palace booked for December season by in-bound tourists to Ooty was cancelled within three days of the Mumbai blasts. Ditto is the experience of most of the leading hotels in the hill station, which are largely tourism dependent. “We expect more cancellations in the coming weeks,” said I Salim Basha, unit manager of Fernhill Palace citing the impact of the Mumbai blasts. He said Germans and Britishers have cancelled bookings. Nahar Hotels MD, Umesh Nahar added, “nearly 30% of foreign traffic has reduced in our group hotels.” The blasts have compounded the misery of the hotels which are already hit hard by the financial crisis and slowdown in the Indian economy.

Normally, the second peak season or the winter season starts from November and ends in January. “Things were fine till July-August. But thereafter, the global recession caught up with our industry and we see less of domestic tourists,” said Taj Savoy Hotel representative John Jimshy. Tamil Nadu tourism officials said the blasts have made foreign tourist think twice before coming to India. Usually, foreign tourists to the Blue Mountains mostly come from Europe followed by Africa, Asia and US.

Most of them opt for package tours, where Nilgiris would invariably be on the list. “Normally around 10,000 foreigners (20% of total tourists) visit Nilgiris and stay in hotels during winter season,” said N Chandrashekar, secretary of the Nilgiris Hotels and Restaurants Association and MD of Hotel Durga. This season, he noticed a drop in the number of inbound tourists. “Foreigners who are already in India are going ahead with their tour. People are cancelling their trip now,” added Salim.

A superintendent at Botanical Gardens, the must-visit tourist spot in Ooty told ET, “tourist inflow is coming down due to rain and with the Mumbai blasts, the foreign crowd will diminish.” Compared to last year, when the bookings for Dec 15- Jan 15 would be full by Dec 1, the situation is different today, said a senior hotel executive. “Bookings would normally be over a month earlier, but today even rooms that were already booked are being cancelled,” he added. Mr Chandrashekar added, “In my hotel, no rooms have been booked for Christmas and New Year. The enquiry has also gone down.”

According to him, the Ooty tourist traffic depends more on holidays and in the last few weeks even the weekend crowd has reduced. “Visitors from Mysore, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Pollachi come and stay at Ooty during weekends. But even that has dropped,” said Umesh. He said the trend started in October following the financial crisis and blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Now the Mumbai blasts have triggered fear among tourists, he added. In the current situation, hoteliers in Nilgiris are thinking of bringing down costs by nearly 15% to woo inland tourists.

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