KOCHI: After Covid-19 stripped us down to bare existence, we have forgotten what it is like to visit an amusement park or gaming arena. While this may seem like an insignificant issue in the backdrop of a deadly virus, a whole industry depended on how much we wanted to have fun.
For the owners of many entertainment and gaming centres across the city, the pandemic turned all plates. While the state was struggling with a public health crisis and an unprecedented pandemic, amusement parks and gaming centres were quietly dealing with their losses. Even with the restrictions lifted, they are finding it hard to get visitors, especially since most people, especially families, are still wary of safety and crowding.
Things are especially worse since these establishments missed out on summer vacation (April - May) and festivals like Onam and Ramzan this year. According to Ravikumar M A, park head, Wonderla (Kochi), the park which reopened on December 23 has suffered a loss of around `70 crore. “Missing out on school and college season between August and December was a major blow to our business. Though we opened the park towards the end of December, college students were held back due to exams,” he said.
Although Wonderla is seeing decent turnout during the weekends, the park owners are adopting a cautious business strategy by opening the park only four days a week and on holidays. Furthermore, the park owners had also given free tickets to around 3,000 Covid-19 warriors from across the state after their reopening. They are also offering tickets at a reduced price till January 17. “There were separate rates for children and adults prior to Covid-19. The rates were also different during the weekdays,” said Ravikumar.
Apart from obeying Covid-19 guidelines put forth by the Central government, online booking of tickets is also being encouraged by the amusement park to prevent crowding. “We are maintaining a certain level of chlorine in water rides as prescribed by the government,” Ravikumar added. As per the new rules, people other than families who come as a group are only allowed on alternate seats in land rides at the park.
Escape the Room in Thrikkakara, a game in which participants are confined to a room and given a certain amount of time to escape with the help of clues, is also going through a crisis. The place, which opened less than three years ago, borrows from similar adventure establishments across the world. “The footfall is very less compared to last year. People above the age of 60 have also stopped coming due to Covid-19 fears. Techies who come in for team building were also one of our major clients. Work from home has put an end to this too,” said Shiyas Khader, co-owner of Escape the Room.
According to him, the facility had suffered a loss of around `6 lakh due to closure over the last eight months. However, on the bright side, Shiyas says that youngsters have started coming to the facility since its reopening on December 22. “As only a maximum of six people can play the game, we are able to avoid huge crowds. Rooms are being chemically fumigated after each game is over and gloves are also given to each participant as a safety measure,” Shiyas added.
Go-karting picks up
Speedway, a go-karting arena located inside Grand Mall, is starting to see some footfall since its reopening. “We get a decent number of visitors during weekends.We are not getting many team outings as IT employees are working from home. Students between 10 and 15 have stopped coming,” said Jose Jacob, owner. According to him, the company had incurred a huge loss to maintain the go-karts and office throughout the year.
Temperature scanning, disinfection of helmets and touchpoints on the go-karts are part of the measures they have taken up. The gaming centre has also introduced a 30 per cent discount on weekdays to attract customers. Paintball facility is, however, yet to reopen. “We currently only have two overalls which the participants have to wear during the game,” says Jose.