The coronavirus outbreak has hit the travel, tourism, aviation and entertainment industries hard.
While city hotels are reporting just 20% bookings by international as well as domestic
tourists, there have also been large-scale cancellations of conference rooms and banquet hall bookings.
International flights from Chandigarh International Airport too have been affected with a 20% drop in occupancy in Dubai and Sharjah flights.
Malls and movie theatres are registering low footfalls.
“Occupancy rates in most city hotels have plummeted from the normal average of 70% to around 20% with only domestic travellers booking rooms. Things took a turn for the worse after government advisories on large gatherings,” said Manmohan Kohli, chairman, Chandigarh Hotel and Restaurant Association.
Bookings made before the coronavirus outbreak are also being cancelled.
“Since March 5, when cases in India were confirmed, we registered 30% cancellation in room bookings and banquet halls for corporate conferences, marriages and meetings,” said Anurag Walia, general manager, Hotel Mountview, Sector 10.
The international tourist segment is the worst affected. “Following the Central government’s decision to not allow any foreigner into India till mid-April because of the outbreak, the number of bookings is nil,” said Manmeet Singh, chairman, Indian Association of Tour Operators (north-India) and chairman, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (north-India).
“Booking by foreign-bound Indians have also been severely impacted. Among the domestic travellers, professionals comprise the main component. The exact fall in ticket booking has to be ascertained,” Singh added.
“Room bookings of around
₹4 crore have been cancelled so far at Hyatt Regency in the wake of coronavirus scare,” said Anil Malhotra, executive director, Nexus Malls (running Elante and Hyatt Regency).
“The food and drink segment of the hospitality industry is faring better, but consumption of non-vegetarian food has declined sharply in the past couple of weeks,” said Kohli.
“People are not ordering non-vegetarian food, and also not selecting from the buffets,” said Walia.
Even though no changes were reported in domestic flights, bookings for Dubai and Sharjah registered a decline.
“We have two flights to Dubai and Sharjah and since the past one week occupancy has gone down by 20%. The suspension of visas will have a major impact in the coming week,” said Prince Dildar, spokesperson, Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL).
City’s shopping malls and cinema halls too have been affected. “People are staying away,” said Pankaj Sehgal, managing director, City Emporium Mall.
“Just 20% ticket bookings in cinemas have been registered whereas it used to be 100% earlier. The decline has been obvious in the last one week or so as the number of confirmed cases increased,” said Anil Malhotra, executive director, Nexus Malls (Elante Mall).
“On Saturdays, we generally have at least a footfall of 1 lakh, but a drop of 30% was recorded last Saturday,” added Malhotra.
However, it was business as usual at Mohali’s movie theatres. Rishabh Malhotra, centre head of VR Punjab in Kharar, said, “Till now there has been no impact (of Covid-19) in theatres here.”
