The Kerala Travel Mart has expressed grave concern over the State government’s new liquor policy, saying it would hit the travel, tourism and IT sectors hard.
Johny Abraham George, President, Kerala Travel Mart, said the closure of bars and liquor vends would force many travel, tourism, hotel and IT establishments to wind up.
Last year, more than 1 crore domestic tourists and 8 lakh foreigners visited Kerala which earned ₹25,000 crore for the State, out of which ₹5,000 crore was in foreign currency. Huge investments have been made across the State to cater to the increasing demands of tourists and for hosting national and international conventions and conferences.
Heavy investments Nearly 10,000 people have invested in such projects and a whopping 20 lakh people are involved in these ventures and making a living, including 2,000 tour operators, 1500 houseboats, hotels, resorts and home-stays.
The government should, therefore, review the decision immediately or the entire State will face the consequences, George said. It should allow the closed bars to function as beer and wine parlours, he added.
“Drinking wine or beer is part the culture of foreign tourists and if we deny such facilities, they will go to places where they are available. The fact is that five star hotels in the State, which numbers only 16, cannot cater to the need of the tourists and obviously they will prefer other destinations inside the country or abroad,” George said.
‘Catastrophic’ Those who have already made bookings may even ask for compensation on breach of contract. It will be catastrophic for the travel and tourism industry, which was built up over the last 30 years and promises to have a great future, he added.
Jose Dominic, Advisor to India Tourism and former president of KTM, and G Gopinath, President, Association of Approved and Classified Hotels of Kerala, were present at the conference.