Surge in COVID sends shock waves in tourism sector
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Houseboats, homestays, hotels finding it hard to keep afloat
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Uncertain journeys: The houseboat sector in Alappuzha was among the first to come to a grinding halt after the COVID-19 outbreak started to sweep the world early last year.
Houseboats, homestays, hotels finding it hard to keep afloat
The backwater tourism sector has hardly recovered from the scars left by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it is staring at another headwind due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
With a dip in tourist flow, the stakeholders fear the second COVID-19 wave would spell doom for the sector, which had faced numerous setbacks in recent times in the form of Cyclone Ockhi, the Nipah outbreak, floods and the pandemic.
Pandemic-hit sector anticipates revival during the upcoming festival period
Grappling to sustain amidst the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry is looking forward to the Christmas-New Year period for revival.
As a sign of improvement, houseboats, hotels and resorts are seeing an surge in bookings, though nowhere near the pre-COVID-19 times.
Houseboat tourism, one of the mainstays of the sector anticipates the upcoming festival period will kickstart the long journey towards normalisation.
“The houseboat industry is not out of the woods yet. With no foreign tourists, we now depend entirely on domestic tourists. A majority of them come from different parts of Kerala, while a small number arrive from other States. Usually, the sector does brisk business during the Christmas-New Year period with tourists from other States and foreigners arriving in good numbers. This year, there is no such rush. However, there are signs of revival. Houseboats