BHUBANESWAR: Puri - the state’s biggest leisure tourism pull - is bearing the brunt of not just summer but also elections.
Stakeholders in tourism and travel industry said the scorching heat along with elections have hit domestic tourist arrivals to the town, which is usually the first choice of people, particularly from West Bengal, heading to Odisha during summer vacations. Although it is mid-April, enquiries for summer vacation bookings for the month of May have remained next to nil, they added.
April to September is the lean season for the hotel industry in the state, but Puri continues to receive budget and low-income tourists who mostly arrive in the town for Shree Jagannath temple and the beach. As per the 2022-23 annual report of Tourism department, Puri received 21.4 lakh domestic tourists in 2022 and 11 lakh of them were from West Bengal followed by two lakh from Maharashtra.
If tourism stakeholders are to be believed, the current hotel/lodge occupancy rate in Puri is less than 20 per cent. “Usually during an election, people refrain from travelling. This is one of the reasons why Puri is getting quite less number of budget travellers now even from West Bengal,” said member of Hotel Owners Association of Puri, RK Das Mohapatra.
Phase 1 of the seven-phase polling in the neighbouring state began on April 19. Online hotel bookings for the month of May have also come down by 50 per cent this year compared to 2022, he added.
The sweltering heat and humid conditions in the beach town is another factor contributing to the low demand. Till February-end and March, finding a room in Puri was difficult because of wedding bookings. Now, rooms are abundantly available, said Gagan Sarangi, chairman of Indian Association of Tour Operators, Odisha chapter.
“Temperatures have been hovering above 42 degree Celsius and Puri is extremely humid and unbearable, forcing many to postpone their holiday plans,” he said.
The dull phase, stakeholders said, will end after the election results are announced and weather conditions improve in June. On the contrary, there is no impact of heat and elections on MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism in Puri. Along with Puri, Bhubaneswar is the most sought after destination for MICE tourism in the state as higher-spending business groups and big hotels in both the cities are making the most of it.
Meanwhile, Das Mohapatra said as Puri goes to polls on May 25, they have held discussions with the district collector to ensure tourists arriving in the city around election time do not face problems finding accommodation or other issues.