Mosquitoes are giving sleepless nights to the tourism industry in the God's own country with Kerala caught in the grip of Chikungunya scare as already 70 deaths being reported from the disease affected regions.
Kerala is targetting revenue of Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) from the tourism sector this year and the season is set to commence. The industry is keeping its fingers crossed hoping the scare will not affect tourist arrivals -- both domestic and international.
State Tourism Director B Suman said there have been no cancellations of bookings so far. The scare comes at a time when the state is expecting at least a 16 per cent increase in international tourist arrivals.
Jose Dominic, CEO of the C G H Group of hotels and president of the recently concluded Kerala Travel Mart, said the matter was of concern to the industry but no cancellations have so far occurred due to the scare.
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