Kumarakom revival to take time

KOTTAYAM: The bird flu scare has badly affected tourism in Kumarakom.  A large number of  foreign and domestic tourists have been inquiring about the tourists’ safety in Kumarakom due to the scare.

“The reports about bird flu have worried  the tourists who planned to visit Kumarakom,”  said Mr Roopesh Kumar, state coordinator of  Responsible Tourism.   

One ‘Village Life Experience’ package of  Responsible Tourism was cancelled by a group of tourists from Maharashtra after they came to know about the bird flu, he said.
“That was on November 28 after they reached Kumarakom,” he said.

Mr V.S. Bhagath, social animator of Responsible Tourism,  said that six of the Village Life Experience packages were cancelled.

Mr Achankunju, a supplier of plantain leaf to the leading resorts of Kumarakom, said  he used sell up to 2000  plantain leaves per day to the resorts of the backwater village.

“But after November 25, the demand fell and now only some 800 leaves are sold,”  he added.

According to Mr Gopu Chandran, manager of  Kerala Tourism Development Corporation’s Water Creeps  hotel in Kumarakom, new bookings  are low this year. “We have 40 cottages here and only 50 percent are filled. The new bookings are also low,”  he said.

According to the records of the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC), 56,000 domestic tourists visited Kumarakom from January 2014 till October 30. The number of  foreign tourists was 24,000. 

“We don’t have the number of the tourists who visited Kumarakom after October.  It is difficult to say whether the bird flu scare has affected tourism,”  Mr Jiju Jose, DTPC secretary, told DC.