Stringent visa procedures, astronomical hotel rates and a scarcity of event tickets have proved a dampener for Indian visitors to the Beijing Olympics, which began today.
The impact is reflected in the fact that Air China, the national carrier that has four flights from India to Beijing, has redeployed 33 per cent of its Indian capacity to other routes during the Olympics, on which they expect enhanced demand.
"The response for the Beijing Olympics from the Indian public by and large is lukewarm," said Mumbai-based travel consultant Karl Dantas. Despite packaging the Beijing Olympic with the splendour of China as a tourist destination, Dantas received just two confirmed bookings despite getting hoards of inquiries.
"Higher prices have actually seen our tour sales to Beijing fall during the Olympics," said Ajay Prakash, general secretary, Travel Agents Federation of India.
For Mumbai-based tour operator SOTC, there have been some bookings but not what was expected. "We expected 500 bookings and have received 300 till now. But we are still receiving inquiries," said P Srinivas, senior vice-president, special interest tours, SOTC.
Tour operator Cox & Kings did not even consider offering Beijing Olympic packages. "There were some inquiries from companies but it stayed at that. We did not get into selling Olympic tickets. Our experience has shown that Indians usually skip watching the Olympics," said Ashutosh Mehere, vice-president, foreign interest tours, Cox & Kings.
Travel company executives said a four-day stay in Beijing for one person will cost Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, around 166 per cent higher than the cost a month earlier. Hotel tariffs account for the bulk of the increase, having risen 300 to 400 per cent in August.
"Demand has been so low because of the high rates that hotels in Beijing still have a lot of rooms to sell and are decreasing rates by 40-50 per cent," added an international tour operator.
The other major problem is the unavailability of tickets. "The Chinese government has frozen around 70 per cent of the tickets for Chinese nationals, leaving little room for foreign tourists," said a travel company executive.
Sources also said travel companies that had paid in advance and locked a lot of inventory for the Olympics found it difficult to arrange actual tickets for their customers.
Increasing stringency in visa approvals has also dampened demand. Earlier, a traveller would just have to produce a copy of the return ticket. Now, the Chinese embassy requires proof of bank balance, which has to be above Rs 1,20,000, income tax papers for three years and a hotel confirmation as well.
"There has been an increase in queries and interest in China as a destination, but actual business transacted has not been as much as expected because the Chinese embassy has become very strict about granting visas till the Olympics are over," said Richa Goyal Sikri, director, Group Business Development, Stic Travels.
In fact, added Karan Anand, business development head of Cox and Kings, the Olympics have not boosted travel to China at all. "Due to the rise in costs during an event, both business and leisure travel to those destinations tend to slow down, which is what has happened with Beijing," he said.
