Floods take a toll on tourism sector

Losses being ascertained in state

Yogesh Shah, owner of Ranjanlal Shah Optical Shop on Gandhi Road, and his daughter were planning to visit Kerala. However, their tour plans went for a toss with the torrential rains lashing the state incessantly for almost 8 days, inundating and damaging all means of surface transport.

Shah said: "The deluge jeopardised our plans to visit Kerala as no trains were available."

Due to cancellations like this, it is the hotel and travel industry in the state that has suffered. The sector has recorded an almost 50 per cent drop in its business, industry players say. Pravez Balooch, manager, Travel Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd said, "The hotel and resort occupancies have dropped by as much as 50 per cent resulting in a sharp reduction of revenues."

He further said many have cancelled their bookings fearing floods. However, he hoped the business to be back on track within a few weeks' time.

Joseph D' Couto, general manager, Le Meredien Hotel, said, "The flood has affected our business badly as many businessmen cancelled their reservations. We incurred losses worth Rs 10-12 lakh in the last week alone." J S Jolly, general manager, Pride Hotels Pvt Ltd, said, "We have lost almost Rs 10 lakh as many bookings were cancelled in the last minute. We suffered a heavy loss due to the nature's fury in the state."

"Many businessmen who had booked rooms in our hotels in Pune and Nagpur also postponed their trip. People from Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot have also cancelled advance bookings," Jolly added.

Rajnikant Pathak, a former employee of Tata Chemicals, said, "We do not have any immediate plans to visit any tourist place as there is no proper communication and trains are also not available to desired destinations."

Telephone services hit

Last week's downpour has caused several landline telephone connections in Ahmedabad to go dead. Around 4,000 lines have been affected. According to a BSNL official, 184 exchanges in the state are affected by the rains; worst among them being Ahmedabad-rural, Anand, Amreli, Bharuch, Nadiad and Vadodara.

Restoration work has started in areas like Vasna, Naroda, Gulbai Tekra, Vejalpur, Satellite and Vastrapur.

Out of total 754 basic transmission stations (BTS), 76 of the cellular network have been affected. Amongst the worst affected are Anand, Godhra and Vadodara, which alone account for 56 BTSs. Intermittent interruptions in optical fibre in Kheda district.