Even as the city goes into a celebration mode to herald New Year, the last few days have given anxious moments to event managers, hotels and business establishments with an overall drop in sales and a dull response to New Year’s eve events as an effect of demonetisation.
Queries are coming in for the event at The Park but a very few have materialised into real transactions. “Last year we hosted a crowd of 1,000 people. But the overall sentiments have been affected this time. Saturday will be a crucial day for us to see the final response,” said Sadiq Rizvi, the hotel’s food and beverage manager. The hotel, however, is planning its New Year’s eve party on the usual grand scale with the Reveillon Rio theme and the special highlight will be a laser show. For the first time Vizag will see a 24 watt laser show performance,” said Ajit Singh Garcha, the hotel’s general manager.
At The Gateway, preparations are in full swing to host ‘Samvatsara’ - the New Year’s eve party. But the underlying worry is palpable.
According to Kiran Bussari, general manager of The Gateway, the sale of passes this year has not been encouraging. “We are keeping our fingers crossed and gearing up for the big bash,” he added. This time, several mid-segment hotels are keeping the celebrations on a low key going by the overall gloomy market sentiments. One of the business hotels that earlier planned to host a party at Vizag Convention Madhurawada had to cancel the plan due to low patronage. Small and big business establishments echo a similar story. For wholesale flower vendors, New Year’s eve is one of the biggest revenue generating periods in the year. But this year, their sales have plummeted by over 80 per cent. “It has been the worst phase for us in the past decade. Last year same day, we sold flowers worth Rs. 40,000 on a single day. I somehow did a sale of Rs 7,000 on Friday. On Saturday, too, we are not that hopeful of making up for the loss,” said T. Gemini, a wholesale flower dealer who has kept a stall on the footpath near Dutt Island.
Streets decked up
While the city streets were decked up with cheerful lights to usher in 2017 on a positive note, for the hotels and business establishments the final ray of hope lies on how fast they can buck up on December 31 to wrap up an eventful year.
