Hotels and restaurants across the State have started closing down their properties following a drop in occupancy and revenue following travel and visa restrictions owing to the COVID-19 scare.
Closure of the hotels and restaurants en masse owing to lack of poor occupancy and sales is unprecedented. Many hotel managements, including the classified ones, have started lay-offs as uncertainty prevails over reopening.
Some have given the choice of leave without salary to the hotel staff.
Migrant workers
Migrant workers, who constitute 15% to 20% of the workforce in the two lakh-odd hotels and restaurants in the State including the 497 classified hotels that have 13,906 rooms, have started returning to their native places.
“In 25 years, I did not have to close down the property even during off-seasons. We have to face the grim reality. I have closed down the 21 rooms and kept the bar open that has only 30% sales,” says G. Sudhiesh Kumar, who runs Hotel Seaface at Kovalam. In the five-star deluxe Raviz Kovalam, only 15 of the 184 keys were occupied on Friday.
“There are no tourists and all the occupants are the crew of Air India. We are not encouraging tourists,” sources said. The backwater resort Raviz Ashtamudi is to be closed down.
“The situation is the same across the State. Lay-offs have begun in properties with 20 rooms and above. Keeping them open is a liability,” adds Mr. Kumar, who is also patron, Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association.
All units closed today
The association has decided to keep all units closed on Sunday. “We will look into the possibility of keeping at least one hotel open in a locality,” he added.
In the government-owned Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) properties, the five-star Tea County at Munnar; Aranya Nivas, Periyar House, and Lake Palace, all in Thekkady; the Golden Peak resort at Ponmudi; Flotilla in Veli tourist village; and the Cafteria in Museum have been closed down.
Boating activities at Thekkady and Malampuzha have come to a halt. “No daily-wage and contract staff members in the KTDC have been laid off,” sources said.
Certificate must
Chaithram at Thampanoor, Samudra in Kovalam, and the flagship property Hotel Mascot in the capital city are open.
“But, reservations are not being encouraged. Foreigners are being accommodated in properties on the request of tourism help desks on the condition of isolation. They are allowed to leave only upon securing negative COVID-19 medical certificate from the health authorities,” sources in the KTDC added.
