The Hindu Business Line : Blasts effect: Hyderabad hospitality industry hit

About 150 room nights have been cancelled, following the twin blasts on August 24. They also made a dent into the revenues of major retail outlets and shopping malls.

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Sept. 19

The blasts that shook Hyderabad in the last few months have had a telling affect on the hospitality industry, with a number of foreign and Indian tourists cancelling their visits.

Mr Pradeepkumar Dutt, Secretary of Federation of AP Hotels Association, told Business Line that bulk bookings from India and abroad have been cancelled in the last few weeks.

“Definitely, the city will have a poor image of the place when incidents like that happen. The South was not touched all these days,” he said.

About 150 room nights have been cancelled, following the twin blasts on August 24 that killed 43 people and injured several in Hyderabad. According to him, the incidents had also made a dent into the revenues of major retail outlets and shopping malls.

Small hotels affected

It is not just the big hotels that were affected by the incidents. Small hotels too were impacted. “There is a fall of 50 per cent in our business of budget hotels,” Mr G.V. Krishnaiah, President of Andhra Pradesh Hotels Association, said.

There are about 5,000 small hotels in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. “Our overheads remain the same. But the footfalls have significantly come down with the bitter memories of Lumbini and Gokul Chat blasts lingering in the minds of the public,” he said.

The blasts also meant additional investments for lodges and restaurants. The administration asked them, along with all major commercial establishments, to install metal detectors and closed-circuit cameras to keep an eye on customers.

Major food joints, particularly near tourist spots such as Necklace Road, have been reporting far lesser number of consumers.

More Stories on : Hotels | Terrorism | Andhra Pradesh

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