The Hindu : Business : Tourism: no immediate cancellations in tsunami aftershock

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

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Tourism: no immediate cancellations in tsunami aftershock

By Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA, DEC. 27. Contrary to expectations, a spate of cancellations by tourists has not rolled in, in the aftermath of the monstrous waves that swept through large parts of the Southeast Asian countries and India.

Enquiries made by The Hindu at the offices of the major outbound tour operators revealed that barring Sri Lanka and Bali, tourists have not pressed the panic button for any of the destinations in Southeast Asia, which is always a hot favourite as much for the budget traveller exploring the overseas shores for the first time as for the affluent traveller on a shopping spree to Singapore.

Sources at Thomas Cook and Kuoni Travels said however, that any way Sri Lanka and Bali were the most preferred choice of travellers and there were not too many bookings.

Four out of the eight existing bookings for Sri Lanka have been cancelled at Thomas Cook. "People who are making enquiries now are interested about Malaysia," a Thomas Cook source said.

Admitting that there was widespread apprehension in the travel industry that tsunami triggered a flurry of cancellations, sources said that the review of travel plans have not followed the anxious received since this morning from tourists.

Referring to Thai resorts being ravaged by the floods, sources at the major tour operators said that mostly their clients were kept in star hotels and not in resorts.

A source at Gainwell Tours, which takes bookings for the Star Cruise from Singapore, said that while the cruise was on schedule, people would be sent to Langkawi instead of Phuket. They also said that most of the resorts washed away by the floods were on Phiphi Island in Thailand.

Giving the domestic trends, a domestic tour operator, Monark Travels, said today a group of 30 people comprising four families had left for Vizag and Arakku Valley, a much sought after tourist destination for Bengalis.

In the case of Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andaman Islands, enquiries with package sellers revealed that most groups have already left.

However, while at first sight the adventurous spirit of the wanderlust soul might seem to have prevailed, there might be other factors too at play.

First, given the short duration of X'Mas vacation, many left soon after the schools closed last week.

But high cancellation charges also seemed to have egged on people to try Lady Luck.

Sources said that for most of these tours, cancellation charges vary between 50 and 100 per cent. Little surprise then that calling off trips for a family of four, has been reserved as a last resort measure by the patriarch.

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