The ongoing Samaikyandhra agitation has affected different sectors, especially hospitality, air travel and RTC Greater Hyderabad zone in the capital. Ever since the agitation commenced, all these sectors are posting steady revenue losses and are worried about the consequences during the forthcoming festive season.
There are over 130 hotels and restaurants, which are categorised into three, four and five stars in the capital, generally hired for events and conferences. The industry is already feeling the heat of the agitation as many scheduled events and meetings have been cancelled leading to a considerable drop in occupancy across the hotel categories. The cancelled meetings include regular dealers’ conferences of pharma and automobile sectors.
The total revenue loss due to cancellations of meetings and conferences and decline in room occupancy is estimated at Rs. 85 crore in the last 40 days, says Pradeep Kumar Dutt, General Secretary of Hotels and Restaurants Association of Andhra Pradesh.
“The worst is dealers’ meetings and other conferences have moved to Bangalore and Chennai hotels thus affecting the Hyderabad hospitality sector's image,” says Mr. Dutt. In tune with the hospitality sector, travel agents in the city too are witnessing a slump in the air ticket bookings from Seemandhra regions since last few weeks. There are over 125 registered travel agents in the State and of these 110 operate from Hyderabad.
In the domestic bookings, generally the demand is high for Hyderabad-Vijayawada, Hyderabad-Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad-Tirupati flights but since last few days, bookings have come down considerably, informs Ajay Kumar Ramidi, president, State chapter of Travel Agents Association of India.
There is uncertainty and most of the employees in different offices, including Secretariat are on strike. Politicians and contractors, who form the chunk of the travellers, are cautious about travelling to Hyderabad in the current scenario, he explains. “If the strike continues then it will have its impact on the bookings for the forthcoming festive season as people will be forced to postpone their travel plans,” says Mr. Ramidi.
The RTC Greater Hyderabad zone too is also incurring losses. Apart from those coming to the city for business, the number of general visitors from Seemandhra region has also come down leading to a loss of about Rs. 50 lakh per day due to declining seat occupancy, explains a senior RTC official.
