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Saturday's earthquake in scenic Nepal has driven the Himalayan tourist to other hill stations across the country. It's not just Nepal tourism that is hit, but also tour operators in India who feel that in accommodating last moment changes in the itinerary, their margins would take a hit.
According to travel agency iTraveller.com, not only trips to Nepal, but tourists are jittery about going to other Himalayan destinations as well. Shiju Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO, iTraveller.com said, "Like every summer, this time around over 40 per cent of the travellers who planned and booked their trip on iTraveller.com was about to head towards the Himalayan destinations. Although Nepal was a minority within that, the impact was larger and drastic because trips are getting cancelled for destinations like Himachal, Darjeeling and Uttaranchal as well."
He added that this is in addition to the blow taken by Kashmir, which used to account for over 20 per cent of the transactions in previous years. "For domestic travellers in summer, Himalayan destinations have been a top of the mind recall due to their affordability, which we hope will shift towards hill stations in South India and foreign destinations of South East Asia and Europe. For now, we've been able to accommodate their requests for cancellations by moving them to alternative destinations without any additional burden on customers," Radhakrishnan said adding that the value loss of business, so far is around Rs 22-23 lakh and more cancellations are expected.
Making last moment changes in itineraries is what is making things difficult for tour operators. According to Manish Sharma, owner of Akshar Travels and also the chairman of the Gujarat Tourism Development Society (GTDS), "Tour operators make bookings at least six to eight months prior to the season, be it for hotels or transport. Now, in order to accommodate the traffic diversion into newer destinations, the margins would be hit, at least by 10-15 per cent."
He adds that as 65-70 per cent of the summer holiday traffic goes to Himalayan destinations, the impact on businesses of operators would run into a few hundred crores. Most popular alternate destinations according to operators across the country are hill stations in southern India like Ooty, Kodaikanal etc, and in western ghats like Lavassa, apart from some traffic to even Sikkim and north Bengal despite that being affected by the quake.
Nepal as a destination was clocking an 18 per cent year-on-year growth for travellers across the segments; business, individual, MICE, according to Thomas Cook India. Rajeev Kale, President & Chief Operating Officer - MICE, Domestic & Sports Tourism, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd said, "Our customers booked on future tours to Nepal have been given both the options of deferring their plan as also the option of shifting to a destination of their choice. All cancellation charges for such tours have been waived off by our product teams as a special gesture of goodwill."
Another travel portal, yatra.com, however, has not seen major cancellations to Himalayan destinations apart from Nepal. Sharat Dhall, president, yatra.com said that, "While bookings to Nepal have been cancelled, many tourists from North India who have their tours planned in the later half of May have not cancelled bookings to other Himalayan destinations."
Sharma, however, feels that the Indian tourist prefers to travel in a secure manner, and the thought of subsequent landslides etc in the Himalayan belt has deterred most travellers this summer.
