De-mon drives tourists away from God’s Own Country

KOCHI: It’s official. The demonetisation drive will have a devastating impact on Kerala’s economy. Already, there is a drop of 80 per cent in money being spent by both domestic and foreign tourists arriving in the state. There will also be a 20-30 per cent decline in tourist arrivals during the current fiscal.
The startling facts are part of an internal study conducted by the state Tourism Department. It says the state has witnessed a 15-20 per cent dip in foreign tourist arrival after November 9 and when it comes to domestic tourism, the department anticipates a 20-40 cent drop in footfall which may worsen if the aftershocks of demonetisation linger in the economy till the end of this fiscal.

The hospitality sector has suffered the biggest setback with the operations of houseboats reporting a 30 per cent decline. There is about 20-25 per cent dip in the sale of foods and beverages, the study said.
The impact of the demonetisation drive is reflected in the tourism sector as there is a drastic dip in spending by foreign and domestic tourists. Industry figures indicate that tourist spendings have come down by almost 80 per cent and it will have a long-lasting impact on the economy.  Besides these, there are several other factors which can adversely affect the tourism sector, including the slow pace of development work at various tourist destinations and aggressive promotion by other states and neighboring countries.

Among the factors, social media-activism of Keralites has been mentioned as a cause of concern presenting a distorted image and thus discouraging tourists from visiting the state.  
According to the statistics available with the department, the total revenue (direct and indirect) from the tourism sector had gone up to `26,689.63 crore in 2015 as against `24,885.44 crore in 2014, an increase of 7.25 per cent. However, the rate of growth in total revenue was 12.11 pc in 2014.
Similarly, foreign exchange earnings stood at `6,949.88 crore last year, but the growth rate slipped to 8.61 pc from 15.07 pc in 2014.   

Director of Tourism U V Jose said Kerala has been promoting responsible tourism over the years. The post demonetisation scenario is particularly worrying, as this occurred at a time when the state has been conducting promotional activities outside the state in the backdrop of a reverse growth in the tourism sector in the last fiscal, he said.