- News>
- Travel
SARS-Free South Africa Lures Indians In Droves
Mumbai, Apr 25: The Iraq war and the dreaded SARS virus have forced domestic tour operators to look at relatively newer destinations to halt the downtrend in the tourism sector.
Mumbai, Apr 25: The Iraq war and the dreaded SARS virus have forced domestic tour operators to look at relatively newer destinations to halt the downtrend in the tourism sector.
South Africa, which has been relatively untouched by SARS and has also become quite popular after the world cup cricket, is fast emerging as the new destination for Indian tourists.
According to one estimate given by a tour operator here, for the next few months, more than 1,50,000 Indian tourists are set to give destinations like China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia a miss because of the SARS threat.
Resultant monetary losses will be huge affecting not only tour operators but even airlines.
Talking to UNI here, chairman and managing director of Shree Raj Tours and Travels Lalit Seth said South Africa is the new choice of tourists. Keeping this trend in mind, Raj Travels has partnered with the South African tourism department to promote the new destinations.
''The unfortunate SARS problems in Hong Kong, China and Singapore have affected most of the preferred destinations of Indian travellers. Fortunately for all Indian holiday seekers, South Africa and Kenya are SARS free and great travel destinations'', Seth said.
When contacted, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd CEO and managing director Ashwini Kakkar agreed that though the traffic to Far-East Asia had been greatly affected, keen holiday takers have opted for Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Kenya.
Bureau Report
South Africa, which has been relatively untouched by SARS and has also become quite popular after the world cup cricket, is fast emerging as the new destination for Indian tourists.
According to one estimate given by a tour operator here, for the next few months, more than 1,50,000 Indian tourists are set to give destinations like China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia a miss because of the SARS threat.
Resultant monetary losses will be huge affecting not only tour operators but even airlines.
Talking to UNI here, chairman and managing director of Shree Raj Tours and Travels Lalit Seth said South Africa is the new choice of tourists. Keeping this trend in mind, Raj Travels has partnered with the South African tourism department to promote the new destinations.
''The unfortunate SARS problems in Hong Kong, China and Singapore have affected most of the preferred destinations of Indian travellers. Fortunately for all Indian holiday seekers, South Africa and Kenya are SARS free and great travel destinations'', Seth said.
When contacted, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd CEO and managing director Ashwini Kakkar agreed that though the traffic to Far-East Asia had been greatly affected, keen holiday takers have opted for Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Kenya.
Bureau Report