State’s image as a tourist destination likely to take a hit with two-day strike
Tour operators and other players in Kerala’s tourism sector are up in arms, as cars and other vehicles ferrying tourists were blocked at multiple locations in the State by supporters of the ongoing two day trade-union strike, on Monday.
Tourism players are ruing how the two-day agitation will dent the State’s image, at a time when the sector was gradually bouncing back after the two-year slump caused by the pandemic. On their part, tourists held up at different locales, or have been forced to confine themselves to their hotel rooms are peeved at how the agitation threw their itinerary into disarray.
A senior official of Kerala Tourism spoke of how he and other officials are being flooded with calls from tour operators and others whose guests were stranded or were delayed at different locales, after groups of agitators blocked their vehicles. “Most such incidents were reported from Alappuzha and other southern districts. Even houseboats were not permitted to operate. All this will affect the sector and backfire, as the inflow of domestic tourists – especially from northern India, was slowly picking up during the past month.”
Such incidents will provide fodder to ‘lobbies’ who have been working to promote destinations up north, at the expense of Kerala and other southern States. That tourists are being blocked at a time when Sri Lanka, a close competitor of Kerala, is reeling under crisis, is yet another lost opportunity, he said.
The State government exempting travel by foreign tourists, from the agitation, has little effect, since their number is minuscule, said Rajaneesh S. R., tour operator and executive committee member of Tourism Professionals Club.
He narrated how a van carrying a group of 12 tourists from northern India – who included children aged 1 to 8 years, was blocked near Alappuzha on Monday morning, as they were proceeding to their hotel in Mararikulam after a houseboat cruise.
“The agitators contended that the driver ought to have taken part in the agitation. Such practices will ruin marketing efforts and road shows hosted by Kerala Tourism. Memoranda submitted to the government to exempt tourism from agitations have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
One among the guests spoke on the condition of anonymity that this was a harrowing and scary experience – especially for children, on what was the last day of their visit to Kerala. “This is not the way to treat guests. We had a memorable trip, but for this. All of us hope others are not similarly inconvenienced,” she said.
Aluva-based tour operator Ratheesh R. Nath narrated how his guests had to cancel their Kanyakumari trip, after their vehicle was blocked at Poovar, in Thiruvananthapuram. “The family which included children, had to return to their hotel in Kovalam,” he said.
