The Hindu : Kerala News : Tourism activities yet to pick up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 09, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Others

Tourism activities yet to pick up

By S. Anil Radhakrishnan

KOVALAM, JAN. 8 . Though the Department of Tourism and stakeholders in the tourism industry have initiated a series of steps to stem the fall in tourist arrivals following the tsunami onslaught, tourism activities are yet to pick up on the Light House, Eve's, Grove and Samudra beaches in the international beach resort of Kovalam.

The hustle and bustle witnessed on the beaches and at the resort during this part of the year is missing. Though over 2,000 tourists are estimated to be staying at the resort, only around 200 tan-seekers can be seen on the beaches. Tourists from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the United Kingdom constitute the majority put up at the resort.

The arrival of the weekly chartered flight from Gatwick in the U.K. on January 3, the chartered flight from Moscow with 120 up-market Russian tourists on January 5, the cruise liner with 22 tourists from the U.K. on January 6 and 34 holidayers from the U.K. at the Vizhinjam harbour today has failed to cheer up the tourism industry.

Though it was announced that the `M.S. Island Sky' bearing the Seychelles flag would arrive with 54 U.K tourists, only 34 tan-seekers were on board. "The 20 tourists who were supposed to arrive here cancelled the trip citing the tsunami disaster. The ship arrived cancelling the trip from Maldives to Colombo," a spokesman for the shipping agent told The Hindu .

The 34 tourists who disembarked at Vizhinjam at 10 a.m. visited the Napier Museum and Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple. The vessel, with a crew of 69 and a Norwegian captain, left for Kochi around 6 p.m. and would proceed to Kannur and Mangalore.

Majority of restaurants and shops selling handicrafts and curios from Kashmir and Tibet on the Light House beach still wear a deserted look. The call centres and Internet kiosks are making god business with the tourists who arrived in the resort frequenting them to keep in touch with their family back home.

Many restaurant-owners and shopkeepers who had taken shops on lease on the beaches after coughing up huge sums of money are worried over the sudden turn of events. Sumesh, who runs a tailoring unit on the Light House beach, says the tsunami attack has caused a big setback to foreign tourist arrivals.

Hoteliers expect the arrival of foreign tourists to pick up in the coming weeks. But, many do not have hope as foreign tourists now skip the Maldives-Colombo-Kerala-Kanyakumari stretch. The stakeholders have contacted their counterparts to drive home the message that it was absolutely safe to visit Kovalam.

The vice- president of the local unit of the Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association, N. Sudhakaran, blames the alert sounded by the State Government on December 30 for the sharp fall in tourist arrivals. "After the alert was sounded, I received cancellation for 12 rooms all of a sudden. We have not been able to recover from it," he added.

It is the hotels that dot the Light House beach that have suffered the most on account of room cancellations. A hotel near the Light House had only occupancy of two rooms. "The business loss is 50 per cent and we do not have much hope as the peak season is over," says the Secretary of the association, P. Natrajan.

Pestering by hawkers and women fruit-sellers is also driving away holidayers. Many of the hawkers hoodwink the Tourism police to sell fruit and tender-coconuts on the beaches. Although hawkers have been allotted zones on the beaches, they continue to approach the tan-seekers. Some women fruit-sellers have fixed beach umbrellas along the walkway of the Light House beach.

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