Operation Munnar, which saw many buildings razed, has left a deep void of distrust between the tourism operators and the government. Rendered crippled, the tourism industry players are yet to come to terms with what they believe was a body blow handed out to them shrewd players of the political spectrum in Kerala.
While the government machinery makes it a point to go to town with the argument that tourism was least affected by the demolition drive, the industry captains spell out their worries and the fears of an encore waiting to happen as soon as new demolition man VM Gopala Menon comes back after a sick leave.
Going by what V Venu, Secretary, Tourism, Government of Kerala says, the impact has been minimal for the tourism industry in Munnar. The timing of the demolition has come to the industry’s rescue in fact, says Venu. “The demolitions came during the off-season period. Munnar is a summer season destination and the demolitions happened just when the monsoon was on. The impact therefore has been minimal,” he adds.
“Wrong”, contends E M Najeeb, president of the recently constituted Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry. “The tourist season is on during the months of April, May and June. The demolitions did deal a severe blow during the period. The tourism industry players here have done a stock taking of what really happened. We have seen 25 per cent of bookings being cancelled as the demolition drive was on”.
According to the Tourism Secretary, “Munnar has around 400 hotel rooms under the classified segment and close to 1,500 rooms in the non-classified segment. The JCB cranes pulledown just below 100 constructions that had encroached on government land. So there isn’t any shortage of hotel rooms in Munnar. Besides, there have been no cancellations as far as the department knows.”
A trip through Munnar’s hotels and inns opened before Business Standard a conflicting picture. Behind the debris of what once used to be sprawling constructions, many an entrepreneur was trying to put together the broken pieces of what they called their livelihood. Some of the half-broken hotels have started functioning by making sure that they are strictly not on government land. They are in fact busy making sure that they stay in business as the tourist season dawns in this hill station as soon as Onam season is over.
Hoteliers like K Pappachan of the Elanjickal Group say that the hill station has attracted a great deal of negative publicity with television channels beaming scary pictures of buildings being pulled down by giant JCB cranes recently. The demolition may have been stalled with politics playing more of an upper hand. But the images still are being re-run.
Explains Venu: “It is only true that that the demolitions have not resulted in tour itinerary cancellations. One important aspect about tourism in Munnar is that it is by and large a domestic tour destination. And, the domestic tourists most often do not plan their holiday travel on a months-ahead basis. People do not opt to come to a hill station like Munnar during the rains. When the next season arrives in a few weeks from now, we are sure to see more people flocking to Munnar. There is no reason for Munnar to worry.”
Najeeb refuses to be convinced. Speaking for the entire community of travel and tourism players who come under the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry umbrella, the Great India Tour Company chairman says, any one who argues that tourism in Munnar has not resulted in loss of business, money and the name that Kerala had succeeded in creating in the world fora, is lying. During the past three months, the industry here has lost as much as Rs 400 crore, of the expected Rs 1,500 crore revenue during the period. The 25 per cent cancellations have indeed come as a body blow”.
Local traders who rake in good business once the tourism season starts are a wary lot too. Says Palani Swamy, a trader: “We fear that not much travelers would come here this September as the demolitions have created a fear among many. We feared that more JCB cranes would come into Munnar on August 10, but somehow it has not happened. But demolitions can resume anytime. It is a bad scene out here.”
What remains to be seen now is whether the government would do some trouble shooting here in Munnar to bring back the tourists. Operation Munnar, coupled with the deadly outbreak of viral fever and chikungunya across the state, has given the state machinery a Herculean problem to solve. “Terming the resort owners in Munnar as ‘Mafia’ was uncalled for. Most of the buildings that were demolished were earlier classified into different star categories by the government itself. Now with the ‘Mafia’ term coming from the government itself is only going to shoo away the investment expected to be pumped in to the sector,” concludes Najeeb.

-Business Standard