With tourist season just a month away, tour operators and wedding planners in Rajasthan have been busy answering calls from their clients. Unfortunately, these calls are either for cancellation of bookings already made or putting on hold their planned visit to Rajasthan. The reason for foreign as well as domestic tourists giving a slip to Rajasthan is dengue and chikungunya outbreak in the state. “Only calls I receive these days are for cancellation of bookings. I have had three group bookings of foreign travellers cancelled last week,” said Pravesh Mendiratta of Holiday Travel Gallery.
Wedding planner Vishwesh Shah, too, is quiet worried. He has not received a single call so far. “The wedding season will begin in November. Since a lot of planning and negotiations are involved, people generally call two to three months before wedding season but so far there is no query at all,” he said.
Tourism contributes to 15 per cent to state’s GDP and the third largest employment generator after agriculture and mining industry. In last one decade, apart from tourism, Rajasthan has become preferred destination for weddings also, particularly after high-profile weddings by celebrities and NRIs, thus becoming a major source of employment and revenue generation. However, seasonal diseases have been scaring away tourists — foreign as well as domestic. “Foreign tourists are going to Sri Lanka or Malaysia and Singapore while domestic tourists have preferred Kerala and Goa,” said Pravesh, adding that business has already declined by 30 to 40 per cent.
With US and UK embassies putting up health warning on their websites, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) claimed 25 per cent decline in tourist inflow in its report released recently.
The number of tourists visiting Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and other locations is coming down drastically with the state government itself cautioning tourists against the disease.
