Less than two months before the scheduled Commonwealth Games, the tourist hot-spots of North India like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Jammu and Punjab are heavily booked due to the holidays announced by the local government, according to Assocham, but the Delhi hoteliers have reported much lower room bookings from the foreign visitors than expected.
Although no known programmes or wine promotion activity seems to have been planned either by the domestic producers or importers, the shortfall in foreign traffic is not going to be good news for the wine industry which might not benefit from the boost of domestic traffic out of Delhi due to leisure tourism, as reported by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
Delhi hoteliers are already contemplating slashing rates for the season if the jump in booking does not take place for another month. A senior manager of a five star hotel in Delhi claims to chase confirmations of bookings, which according to him implies that there is something wrong.
"So much investment has gone into adding inventory. Not getting substantial bookings is very bad for the industry," Federation of Restaurants and Hotels of India President Rajinder Kumar has reportedly told a national daily.
The Indian Tourism Ministry had anticipated 40,000 additional rooms for Delhi to cater to the increased traffic of 100,000 visitors into the city. However, hotels in Delhi have not seen any evidence of strong bookings so close to the event. "By now half the rooms should have been booked," says Kumar.
However, increase in tourists to the popular destinations in North India will help growth of medical tourism, adding sizable revenues to the kitty of these States.
Luxury and star-rated hotels in places like Shimla, Kullu-Manali, Kasauli, Nainital, Jim Corbett National Park, Mussoorie, Auli, Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Pushkar and Jaisalmer are reportedly booked already and there is hardly any space left for those planning to go out during the Commonwealth Games.
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