It is the vacation season when business travels reduce and people travel more for leisure and entertainment. This year, though most of the industrial sectors in the city have been impacted by the economic slowdown, the hospitality and travel sectors here hope the demand will remain unaffected during Christmas-New Year vacation and Pongal holidays.
Coimbatore usually sees a lot of people travelling abroad during the Christmas vacation. Multinational companies are closed during the Christmas vacation and people prefer to travel abroad during this period. There are two categories of travellers - those who are well-informed, plan ahead, and make bookings directly. The other category is those who are not sure of the destinations, facilities and want to make last-minute booking. They usually approach travel agencies and tour operators. “There is a decline, both, in terms of number of travellers and business, probably due to lesser budget for leisure and entertainment this year,” says the Chief Executive Officer of a leading travel firm here. If a traveller wanted to visit Switzerland, he is looking at other options at a lower rate. This is the case with domestic travellers too, he says.
Another travel company head says travellers have online options now to book tickets or hotel rooms with offers. Further, there were a few instances of travel agents who had defaulted and hence, people are cautious when they plan their vacation travel. But many are making short trips with family to destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Dubai. Those who travel abroad for conventions and business meets, continue to do so, the sources said.
In the case of the hospitality sector, room occupancy has been “erratic in Coimbatore for the last seven to eight years” because of the increasing number of star hotels and the rooms available. The average occupancy has remained less than 60% for most of the players for the last few years, say sources in the hospitality sector.
Coimbatore is a major hub for business travellers because of the large number of manufacturing units in Coimbatore, Tiruppur, and Erode districts. Though business travel from other countries might come down for the next few weeks, domestic visitors are expected to go up, the sources added.
The district has a large number of engineering and automobile component producing industries. Slowdown in these sectors did impact the hospitality sector for a couple of months. But there is a revival since October, says the manager of a hotel here. The hotels are preparing for new year celebrations and footfalls expected during the vacation period. Room bookings, halls booked for celebrations and meetings, and footfalls at the restaurants have picked up during the last couple of months. “Entertainment and travel has not affected the hospitality sector much and we expect it to be good during the vacation period too. There are a lot of customers who continue to book halls for birthdays and weddings,” said the manager of another leading hotel here. “There was only a pseudo-fear. People are coming out, spending, travelling. I do not see any significant drop in business,” the manager said.
