Hospitality sector cautious about tourism revival

The resort and hospitality sector in Mysuru is ready to reopen on a full scale barring minor restrictions consequent to the unlocking of the State from Monday.

But for the stakeholders, this isn’t the proverbial new daybreak because the sector’s fortunes hinge to a big extent on the traction offered by the tourism sector which is within the doldrums. Mysuru within the pre-pandemic days used to draw almost 3.5 million vacationers yearly at a conservative estimate. The tourism sector alone used to generate direct jobs starting from 80,000 to 1,00,000 apart from creating ancillary jobs all of which has been affected by the pandemic.

Though locations of vacationer curiosity together with temples will even be reopened with impact from Monday, the hospitality sector doesn’t envisage a resumption of regular enterprise for at the least one other six months.

Tourists from Kerala

“Even if Karnataka reopens, there are restrictions for people coming from Kerala where the COVID-19 cases are high. Besides, carrying an RT-PCR negative report has been made mandatory if travelling from a few other States and hence inter-State tourist traffic will remain affected,” stated Narayana Gowda, President, Hotel Owners Association.

Stakeholders stated tourism exercise in Mysuru was fuelled by home travellers from different States and virtually 50% of the site visitors was from Kerala. But in view of the uncertainty over hassle-free journey and stringent checking on the borders, the vacationer circulate from that State will stay muted for some extra time.

Hotel rooms

There are 10,000 rooms in and round Mysuru from motels starting from funds to luxurious segments catering to completely different classes of tourists. But of those solely about 300 to 400 rooms are occupied at any given level of time which underlines the gravity of the scenario plaguing the hospitality sector.

Sources within the Tourism Department stated although preparations are on to reopen all of the motels managed by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) consequent to the unlocking, they don’t count on a surge in tourism-centric exercise instantly.

Yet to learn

Meanwhile, the hospitality sector is but to learn from a slew of measures introduced by the federal government virtually two weeks in the past.

This included a three-month waiver on present fastened costs on energy provide and a 50% waiver on property tax on motels for one 12 months.

Though the federal government has introduced the measures, it’s but to be notified within the absence of which native service suppliers are insisting on cost of full costs.