Rising bird flu likely to hit Kerala's tourism sector

KOCHI: The tourism industry in Kerala is in the throes of anxiety following an outbreak of avian influenza in at least three southern districts, resulting in the death of hordes of ducks. Chicken sales have plummeted across the state.
The state government has ordered massive culling of ducks in Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta, where the bird flu, AH5N1, has been confirmed. Ducks have died in the neighbouring districts of Ernakulam and Kollam as well, but the presence of the bird flu strain, which is highly contagious among birds is yet to be confirmed in those places. There have been no reports of the virus affecting humans.

Poultry sales have plummeted. “Retail chicken prices in the state have dropped from Rs 100 to Rs 70 per kg already and may fall further. Farmers are suffering a loss running into crores as you can’t reduce production immediately,” said TS Pramod, joint secretary of All Kerala Poultry Traders and Farmers Samithi.

The state produces around 70 lakh kg of poultry a week while another 30 lakh kg comes from other states, like Tamil Nadu, he says. Imports have nearly stopped as farmers are not ready to accept farm-gate price of less than Rs 50 a kg. However, the flow of eggs into the state from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu, the primary egg production centre in South India, has not stopped. Kerala gets around 1 crore eggs a day from Namakkal.

Kerala’s houseboat industry, which has made backwater cruises popular all over the world and is centred on Alapuzha and Kottayam districts, stopped serving chicken in boats. “So far we have not received any (booking) cancellation requests,” said Joji Mathew, president of the Houseboat Owners Association. “But as a precaution, we stopped serving chicken. We serve only fish now. The steps taken by the government to deal with the disease should restore confidence in tourists.”

The tourism sector is already under pressure because of the government’s decision to ban liquor bars and declaration of Sunday as dry day. The flu has come at a time when the state is getting ready for the peak tourist season around Christmas and New Year.

“Domestic tourists plan their trips just a few days in advance. So, if the flu continues, there are chances that they may cancel their trips. But if the disease is contained, then it shouldn’t be a problem,” said Abraham George, chairman and managing director of Intersight Tours and Travels. “Anyway we will know about it another week.” The bird flu has not hit poultry trade in neighbouring states. Nearly 10 lakh eggs are exported from Namakkal every day. Oman is the largest buyer followed by other Gulf countries.

“Since the bird flu outbreak is far away from here, the export has not been affected. It was only in June 2013 that the exports resumed after an earlier ban due to occurrences of bird flu in several parts of the country,” said PV Senthil, secretary of the Livestock and Agri Farmers Trade Association.