Flight cancellations hit tourism in Munnar during peak season

The ongoing IndiGo flight cancellations are impacting the tourism sector in Munnar during the peak December-January season. According to tourism stakeholders, the hill station witnessed massive cancellations after the reported flight crisis.

Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) managing committee member Vinod Vattekkatt said that after the flight crisis, nearly 30% to 40% of hotel and homestay bookings had been cancelled in Munnar. “The bookings have been cancelled until December 15 for now, but we are expecting the situation to change in the third week of December,” said Mr. Vattekkatt.

“After the Onam holidays, the hill station witnessed a dull tourist inflow in November, but received a good number of bookings from the first of December. However, the unexpected crisis in the aviation sector led to sudden cancellations, resulting in huge losses for tourism stakeholders. In our primary estimation, many units have suffered a loss of ₹1.5 lakh a day after the cancellation,” said Mr. Vattekkatt.

According to him, in December and January, Munnar usually receives an influx of north Indian tourists, particularly groups from Maharashtra and Gujarat. “However, after the flight cancellations were reported, there was a spurt in cancellations of such bookings. For group travellers, the surge in airfares is just not acceptable,” he said.

Dipping mercury

The normal winter season starts in Munnar in November, with extreme cold experienced in the first week of January. Typically, frost covers the valleys and hills in the first week of January, attracting tourists in hordes.  

Meanwhile, the temperature is showing a drop in Munnar. On Thursday morning, the IMD installed an automatic weather station at Kundala, near Munnar, which recorded 12 degrees Celsius, the lowest in the State for the day.