COVID-19 fear: hotel industry bears the brunt

Meetings and conferences planned at hotels have been put off

A restaurant in Srirangam wears a deserted look during lunch time on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 virus scare has directly impacted the hotel industry in Tiruchi with bookings declining drastically. Several hotels are witnessing a flurry of cancellations and the downtrend has been increasingly noticed over the past one week at many hotels in Tiruchi and in the temple town Srirangam, according to the hospitality industry circles here.

The drop in room bookings ranges from 25% to more than 50% since travellers are scared of venturing out to other destinations. The cancellation of several incoming international flights to Tiruchi from Colombo and Kuala Lumpur has restricted movement of foreign nationals to the rock city housing famous temples.

With government advising people to keep away from mass gatherings, there is a lot of uncertainty prompting tourists to cancel and defer their travel plans for the time being, say industry sources. Private meetings and conferences that were to be organised in hotels have also been cancelled impacting business further.

The COVID-19 impact began to be felt from March first week onwards as a result of which bookings have dropped significantly with many cancellations also happening, says C. Murali Krishnan, Executive Director, Sangam Hotels, Tiruchi.

“People are hesitant to travel owing to COVID-19 scare. Coupled with this is the travel restrictions which has hit hard the hotel industry”, says Mr. Murali Krishnan.

Echoing the same view, another senior executive of a leading hotel in Tiruchi says the bookings have come down drastically.

The impact has been felt more acutely in the last three days as travellers are fearful to venture out.

The bookings have nosedived by nearly 50%, says a senior official of yet another prominent hotel near the Central bus stand adding that the drop began to be felt from March 10th onwards.

Bulk cancellations

The downfall in occupancy percentage has been nearly 60% which has been noticed over the last two days, says a senior executive of SRM Hotel, Tiruchi.

The group bookings made by domestic and international tourists a couple months in advance have been cancelled.

The hotel which is in close proximity with the Tiruchi international airport has shut its bar, banquet, swimming pool and gymnasium. All business meetings have been cancelled, the executive said adding that this was unprecedented scenario for the industry.

Murugesh Narayanan, General Manager of Vignesh Residency, functioning at Srirangam which is otherwise abuzz with movement of devotees all through the day, laments the loss of business caused by bulk cancellations.

“The bookings have come down by 30 to 40% impacting our business”, adds Mr. Murugesh Narayanan.

A front office manager of another prominent hotel at Srirangam says that Non-Resident Indian group bookings at the hotel used to be good until recently.

But, the situation has completely changed now and group bookings have come down sharply due to COVID-19 scare.

Cancellation of overseas flights at Tiruchi airport has added to it, he said.

The hospitality industry circles apprehend that the current situation could continue till this month-end. “We hope that things will settle down soon”, says Mr. Murali Krishnan.