The Hindu Business Line : Beach resorts offer low tariff packages to woo tourists back

BEACH resorts along the southern coast are offering holiday packages at throwaway prices this summer. Though most of them have got back to normal business following the killer tsunami waves which hit the coasts in December last year, most resort owners feel that tourists are still scared of beach holidays.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr T. Natarajan, CEO, GRT Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Temple Bay Resort in Mahabalipuram, said, "The occupancy rate which fell by almost 25 per cent soon after the tsunami, is now picking up. But the earlier appetite for a beach holiday is missing."

Mr Natarajan attributed this dip not as much to the killer tidal waves, but to the overseas and television media. "The episode has been exaggerated so much that many overseas tourists think that Chennai and Mahabalipuram don't exist on the map anymore. We are finding it extremely difficult to convince tourists that there is nothing wrong here and that we sprung back to normalcy within 15 days of the incident."

In order to woo tourists, Temple Bay is going to launch attractive summer packages, which would be priced much lower than its usual summer packages. "An average room this summer would cost around Rs 2,750 per person on a twin-sharing basis, vis-à-vis the usual tariff which is around Rs 4,500 per day. At the same time, we have also tied-up with hotels in Madurai and Tanjore to offer our customers a beach-cum-temple tour," said Mr Natarajan.

On the other hand, Quality Inn MGM Beach Resorts is on a PR drive. According to Mr Shishir Ranjan, General Manager, Quality Inn Beach Resorts, they have been inviting batches of their corporate clients every week to experience the resort. "We have renovated our resort and, in fact, now we are in much better shape than what we were before the tsunami."

MGM has launched three packages for summer this year — Beat the Heat, which is a two nights - three days weekend package (it includes food, site-seeing tour, a free entry into Dizee World and an Ayurvedic massage), priced at Rs 8,999; Super Saver, which is a two night - three days weekday package priced at Rs 4,999 and a Honeymoon Package.

Mr Ranjan said that all the three packages have been priced significantly lower than their usual packages.

However, Mr Deepak Khullar, Head of Sales (Leisure Division), Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, said that the tsunami is history as far as the tourism industry was concerned and that the occupancy rates are back to normal.

The group had launched a package soon after the tidal waves for its Fisherman's Cove resort near Mahabalipuram, at a reduced rate.

"In fact our occupancy rates fell only by 10 per cent soon after the tragedy and it is close to 80 per cent now. We had also taken the travel trade on a tour of our resort within 48 hours of the tidal wave so that they were convinced that everything was well at Fisherman's Cove."

The Taj group launched its summer packages for the year on Wednesday, and Mr Khullar clarified that the pricing at the beach resorts were as per the market trends and had nothing to do with the tsunami.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page