H1NI scare affects hotel bookings

The outbreak of swine flu in Pune is making survival more difficult for the hospitality industry in the city.

“It will have an adverse effect on the hospitality and tourism business in the city. Cancellations have started pouring in for most of hotels and the business scenario looks bleak,” said Gulshan Arora, senior vice president, Sun-n-Sand Group of Hotels. The company operates hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Shirdi and Goa.

In fact, Arora’s 120-room Sun-n-Sand Pune lost fairly good business owing to the swine flu scare in the city. “Karan Johar’s film production company cancelled their reservation of 25 rooms. Kareena Kapoor and other actors were to shoot in the city for the four days. They said actors and the production unit is unwilling to travel to the city,” Arora said.

Darius Buhariwala, secretary, Pune Hoteliers’ Association, said they hadn’t decided about sending any precaution advisory to the hotels. The Hotel & Restaurant Association Western India has not yet initiated any such steps, said its president SP Jain who is lso managing director of Pride Group of Hotels.

Vikas Kapai, general manager of Oakwood Premier Pune and Oakwood Residence Pune, said it was too early to quantify the losses.