Despite various tourism destinations in the district witnessing a solid turnout during Onam, industry stakeholders seem apprehensive about the possibility of business picking up pace.
While visitors thronged major centres including Thenmala and Shendurney in the weekend, tour operators say they are now bracing for yet another lull as many bookings were cancelled.
“The Onam crowd was there only for a couple of days. Now Thenmala is nearly deserted and it will take more time for the sector to revive. The festival rush cannot be taken as an indicator of the industry bouncing back to normal. What you saw was something similar to the crowd in textile shops, it was only temporary,” says Thomas, a tour operator. Considering the recent surge in test positivity rates, most operators are expecting another set of curbs in the coming days.
“The government may introduce new restrictions or even go for a lockdown. The spike in occupancy during Onam means nothing,” he adds.
Though many hotels and resorts offered Onam staycation packages, they didn't receive much response either.
“There were a lot of enquiries and few bookings for the weekend. Most wanted to spend the Onam day at our resort and enjoy our festival spread. But there were hardly any takers for our two and three day packages. We also have a feeling that the business will be dull after this week,” says Shyam, who runs a resort.
Houseboat sector is facing a similar situation as the new restrictions are causing a considerable dip in the number of bookings.
“The sector did come alive during the last week, but getting group bookings has become very difficult. Since vaccination and RT-PCR certificates are mandatory, several people are backing out. They say some persons in their group are not vaccinated and there are many parents who are not ready to take RT-PCR tests for the children,” says Jayan, houseboat operator.
He adds the absence of foreign tourists and the ever-changing pandemic scenario has made their lives difficult.
“People are not confident about blocking the dates as the scene may change any moment. Usually we get a lot of advance bookings, but now domestic tourists seem worried about the third wave. They feel they may not be able to travel the next month and this uncertainty is causing huge losses to us,” he says.
