The outbreak of swine flu in Rajasthan and Maharashtra is expected to result in a loss of Rs. 5,500 crore to the tourism and aviation industries, according to an ASSOCHAM assessment.
The worst hit would be Rajasthan which attracts fairly a large number of foreign tourists during the winter season beginning November-December and running through end of February and the first week of March. Maharashtra, including Mumbai, also attracts the second best number of foreign tourists in the winter season.
With both these States getting affected by swine flu, Rajasthan being hit worst, the number of tourists visiting Jaipur , Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and other locations in the western State is coming down drastically with the state government itself cautioning tourists against the disease, ASSOCHAM has said.
In the winter season, roughly 2-2.5 lakh foreign tourists visit the Golden triangle of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur (and other Rajasthan cities), accounting for about 30 per cent of the total number of the inbound traffic in the country.
According to official figures, the arrivals at the Delhi airport of the foreign tourists with destinations is about 30 per cent of monthly traffic of about eight lakh and most of them are headed for the Golden triangle.
With increasing cases of swine flu (H1N1 influenza) and the kind of negative reaction on the tourists, the traffic is set to drop drastically in the running month of February leaving a bruising impact on businesses such as hotels, airlines, taxi operators, and restaurants.
As much as Rs. 4,000 crore could be a hit only on account of the net foreign exchange earnings while the secondary losses could add up another Rs. 1200-1500 crore, as per the ASSOCHAM’s conservative assessment. “The real impact could be even more. Then, there is going to be an impact on the domestic tourism as well, though the domestic tourists flow slows down in January and February with the examination season in schools,” the chamber secretary general D.S. Rawat said.
In all, the monthly foreign exchange earnings from the foreign tourists arrivals are between $1.5-2 billion a month during the winter season. While the arrivals get disbursed to Maharashtra, south India and Goa coasts, a large concentration is around the Golden triangle.
As per the data, the percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during January 2015 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (28.72 per cent) followed by Mumbai Airport (21.87 per cent), Chennai Airport (8.39 per cent), Bangalore Airport (5.83 per cent), Goa Airport (5.09 per cent), Haridaspur Land check post (4.99 per cent), Kolkata Airport (3.60 per cent), Cochin Airport (3.54 per cent), Ahmedabad Airport (3.33 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.05 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.79 per cent), Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.34 per cent), Gede Rail (1.14 per cent), Attari Wagah Land check post (0.92 per cent) and Sonauli Land Check post (0.86 per cent), the statement said.
