Travel
Sites Visit
Goa, Karnataka,
Kerala, Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in
South India, Delhi, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh in North India, Assam, Bengal,
Sikkim in East India |
| |
Setback to tourism industry due to swine flu
by Lokendra Singh
Jaipur:
As if global economic slowdown was not enough, the spread
of swine flu epidemic is discouraging tourists to visit
popular tourist places like Jaipur in Rajasthan. With
the H1N1 virus gripping people in different parts of the
world, Jaipur's tourism industry is witnessing a huge
plunge. The tourism industry in Jaipur is facing heavy
losses due to swine flu, as the current trend, according
to tour operators, indicate that around 10 to 15 percent
tourists having either cancelled or postponed their visit
to the city. Due to highlighting of swine flu through
media, the tourism business has been affected widely.
"Swine has affected the whole country, bookings have been
cancelled and there are domestic market problems too.
The only thing that we want is that the media should not
hype the situation and should not concentrate more on
swine flu, so that our industry can grow. Due to the media
coverage from Pune, the tourists cancelled their bookings.
There has been a similar effect on Rajasthan too. Presently,
there is no movement in Rajasthan," said Piyush Khandelwal,
a tour operator. Due to frequent terror attacks, tourism
in Jaipur has been suffering severely for the last two
years and now due to swine flu there has been major slowdown
in the travel trade. "Domestic business has surely been
affected by swine flu. People coming from different parts
of the country have postponed their trips because of swine
flu. Otherwise the regular business trips are still on.
There are no cancellations from the foreign clients, so
they are regular with us," said Rao Khushnoot, another
tour operator. He added that there have been cancellations
by ten to fifteen percent tourists booked for Jaipur city.
The H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, emerged in
April in the United States and Mexico, and has spread
internationally. The World Health Organization has termed
H1N1 swine flu as unstoppable because many countries are
not keeping a track and precise count of the virus cases.
-August
26, 2009
Go
To Top | |
|