Post-30/9, Thekkady resembles a graveyard. The once humming streets of the hill station in south-central Kerala seem to partake of a chilling stillness in repudiation of its status as a tourist hotspot.
Two weeks after death took its toll off the shores of Idukki district’s Thekkady, the pristine lake and the boat landing station wear a deserted look. The tragic boat mishap on September 30 that killed 45 holidayers has dealt a severe blow to both the tourist sector and the day-to-day life of Thekkady. For the first time after it found a permanent place on the state’s tourist map, the hill station is paralysed in all aspects.
Statistics shows a 30 per cent dip in the tourist inflow after the authorities stopped boat services and trekking in the Periyar Tiger Reserve following the mishap. And thousands of locals who eke out a living from tourism-related activities can only watch helplessly. Businesses are sinking day by day with heavy losses to tourism and the auxiliary industries.
Most tourists have cancelled bookings at hotels and homestays. Tour operators often direct them to other destinations.
Step into Kumily town surrounding Thekkady sanctuary and you see only worried faces all around. Right from the jeep driver to the spice shop owners along the road from Kumily to Thekkady, homestay operators and hotel owners, and people running massage parlours and martial art centres, everyone looks dejected.
Thekkady, which usually attracts around 3,000 tourists per day during the season, is now in virtual silence. There’s a long queue of tourist taxis, jeeps and autorickshaws.
“You would never have seen Thekkady like this. We used to get around Rs 500-1,000 per day during this time. Trust me, I haven’t got even Rs 100 till now,” laments Reghunath, one of the 400-odd autorickshaw drivers operating in and around Thekkady.
“Yes, we don’t have much to do these days,’’ jeep driver Murukan testifies. Adds fellow professional Hakkim: ‘‘But compared to tourist taxi drivers we are well off. There are at least a few local clients. But if there’s no boating there won’t be any tourist.”
Tour operators, hotel owners and locals have urged the authorities to reopen the spot soon as their livelihoods are at stake.
The words of Kumily panchayat president Shiya Zakeer reveal the grim situation that local homestay owners and spice
shop owners find themselves in. “There are about 40 resorts operating here. More than 10,000 people depend on tourism-related activities for their livelihood.
Authorities should restart at least the trekking soon,” she demands.
Many locals who run homestays after taking loans are on the verge of a breakdown as they cannot find a way to pay the instalments in the coming months. The severity of the situation is evident in the silence surrounding Green Palace which is run by K Shakila and family.
“We built the entire structure spending lakhs. There are no takers even though
we are ready to cut down the rates,” says Shakila, as her son Anbukanthan, daughter Bhanumathi and son-in-law Murali remain in the background, their hopes and dreams shattered.
Shop owners and tourist guides are even worse off. The once-bustling town sports more than 60 spice shops, 30 handicraft shops and has more than 75 local guides. “The business was good and the profit helped us to cover the dip in sales during the off season. We used to sell goods worth Rs 30,000 every day during October. Now our daily collection is Rs 100-150, that too by selling stuff like mineral water and biscuits to local people. How are we going to give the rent, our bills and salary to the staff?” ask Aji, who, along with his wife, Chithra, runs God’s Spices. Sudheer, another spice shop owner, is shocked by the sudden turn of events that has spelt doom for his life.
Local people who earned a good revenue working as guides to tourists are also hoping against hope. Noushad is one among them. “This is the beginning of the season and usually there are lots of foreign and North Indian tourists. But now....,” his words trail off and his face looks grim. You know why after walking around for a while. There is not a single tourist on the nearly deserted streets. If authorities fail to take some urgent measures, the famed hill station of Kerala will only be a shadow of its past glory.
“The revenue is taking a dive”
The September 30 tragedy meant a heavy revenue loss not only for KTDC and the Forest Department but the local entrepreneurs also. Officials calculate a rough
figure of more than Rs 60 lakh per month as the loss suffered by all the stakeholders in Kumily as of now.
“Local entrepreneurs and homestay owners in Kumily together had a turnover of about Rs 50 lakh per day,’’ says Gopu Chandran, manager of Lake Palace. ‘‘This has been severely affected. Apart from this, there’s the
revenue loss suffered by big hotels. The KTDC is losing about Rs 1.25-1.5 lakh per day as a direct loss due to the absence of boat service. We have also
been hit by the lack of booking at Lake View, Aranya Niwas and Periyar run by KTDC.”
He further points out that the Forest Department will have to bear a loss of around Rs one crore per month as the boat service has come to a stop. “The boats were the major source of revenue for the department. The charges for carrying camera, taking videos and other activities like bamboo
rafting used to bring in money,” he says.
But the major blow for the Forest department will be the revenue loss from entry tickets to the sanctuary. According to official statistics 58,718 domestic tourists and 3,474 foreign tourists visited Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in October last year. In addition, there were 5,190 children in the domestic group, 63 with foreign tourists and a total of 4,461 students. Interestingly, till October 12 this year, there were only 4,000 domestic tourists plus 375 children, and 208 foreign tourists with 150 children. “Look at the reduction in the number of people coming to the PTR,’’ says an official with the sanctuary. ‘‘If this continues, we will not even have one third of last year’s tourist population.”
When dreams sank
“When ‘Jalakanyaka’ sank along with 45 lives, the hopes and dreams of our lives too were drowned. It was a virtual blow to our struggle for survival. If this situation continues, I don’t know how we are going to repay our loans. It was a final desperate attempt to fight back,” laments Radhamani Sasi who was all set to kick off her homestay project on October 15.
She is forced to postpone it following cancellations of bookings.
Radhamani, along with husband Sasi and children Sarath Babu and Anila, has been running a six-room homestay project, Gangothri, for seven years. She had to sell it following a financial crisis last year. They decided to go in for another project after taking a loan of Rs 30 lakh from KFC for which they have to pay Rs 40,000 per month.
“It was going to be a big project. We were all hopes. Our homestay had found a mention in the Lonely Planet and other travel guides. We thought the new venture would free us of the financial burden,” she says in a choked voice.
Lillikkutty Joseph runs another homestay — White House — with ten rooms.
She is one of the pioneers of homestay projects in the region and has got a number of forest-front rooms.
“We have been getting enquiries, of course.
But only enquiries. Tourists seem to be somewhat afraid to come here. We have to remit huge amounts to the local panchayat as tax, apart from the electricity and water charges. Usually the revenue during the season helps us to do the balancing act. I don’t know when we are going to get our rooms occupied again,” says Lillikutty.
“We survived many issues like swine flu, chikungunya, bomb threats.... But this tragedy was too awful, it took away the beauty of Thekkady with those innocent lives,” she adds.
s_anil@epmltd.com