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After floods of last December, tour operators and hotels face another disaster during the peak festival and holiday season this year too due to Cyclone Vardah that hit Chennai on Monday.
This cyclonic storm has aggravated the dampening effect of demonetisation — the Centre declaring ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination notes are no longer legal tender — and the short supply of currency which initially hit travel industry.
December is usually a busy season for tour operators, as people from the North come down on temple tours to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. But operators saw a huge drop in bookings post demonetisation. With Vardah ravaging Chennai, Thiruvallur and Kanchipuram, more bookings got cancelled.
M Raju of Surya Tours and Travels said, “Since November, business was dry due to cash crunch. In the last three days, Chennai and Puducherry trips got cancelled due to cyclone and we have not got any bookings after that.”
A batch of the company’s tourists reached Chennai on Sunday and Monday morning. Since most of these were from the North, they were stranded in Chennai airport and few were stuck in hotels in Puducherry and Chennai. “Using our company transport, many were transported to Tiruchi, the nearest airport as most of them wanted to reach home,” Raju said.
A hotel manager in Central Chennai said “There is a continuous flow of residents checking in to our hotel since today morning. But, at the same time, there have been few cancellations, including a group booking for a business conference due to cyclone,” he said. The manager said, “December is usually a good month for us. But, starting from demonetisation, it has been on a dull note as people’s sentiments are low. This has affected our food and beverages business as well.”
With power yet to be restored in most parts of Chennai, stranded tourists and residents could be seen waiting outside malls, Express Avenue and Spencers Plaza, which were closed today.
A few multiplexes were open and at Sathyam cinemas, many like Nisha V, an IT professional, planned to spend most part of the evening watching a movie. “There is no power or water at home. This is rather a better option,” she said.
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