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U. Bharath (cbedit@imaws.org)
Alleging that the Tamil Nadu Government introduced an e-pass system for tourists to enter Ooty, and other hill towns in the Nilgiris district, which are a favourite summer retreat for many of the tourists in the country, the Nilgiris Hotel and Restaurant Association (NHRA) has bemoaned that the move had adversely affected the restaurant business in the hill towns, and it led to loss of revenue to restauranteurs.
Suresh Nair, President of NHRA, alleged that there has been a drastic decline in the arrival of tourists to the so-called “queen of hills” since the TN Government came up with the idea to restrict tourist inflow into Ooty, citing reasons including traffic congestion and ecological damage to the city.
“There is a 30% reduction of footfall and customer support to independent restaurants and restaurants attached to hotels since the e-pass system came into vogue in May 2024,” says Suresh Nayar.
“Given the huge dent caused by poor tourist arrivals, we have decided to fight the e-pass mandate in the courts, praying to do away with the system. We have already filed a petition through the United Nilgiris Federation, a consortium of various associations in the district, to do away with the e-pass system,” Suresh Nair added.
While noting that the immensely popular tourist places like Ooty, Coonoor, Kothagiri and Gudalur have been badly affected by this restrictive measure, Suresh Nair said the bulk of our restaurant business happens due to the arrival of tourists during the summer season and weekends. Due to e-pass restrictions many tourists choose to skip Ooty and other hill towns and travel overseas, including to places like Bali, the Maldives, and the Andamans.
“We are afraid that Ooty and other hill towns may lose their sheen as they got affected by this restrictive e-pass system, which has had a dampening effect on restaurant business and also hotel bookings”, opines Suresh Nair. It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu Government came up with the e-pass system with the noble intention of reducing road congestion, gathering data on vehicles, passengers and length of stays, devising new infrastructure development based on the collected data and saving the brittle Western Ghats ecosystem of the Nilgiris district.
However, this restrictive arrangement has spelt doom for service sectors such as restaurants and hotels.
“The weekend crowd is what we rely on for our restaurant business, but poor tourist arrivals have eaten into our profit since the 2023-24 season. We don’t know when our restaurant business would recover and reach the pre-Covid days,” say the restauranteurs in the district.
Suresh Nair flagged yet another reason for the poor tourist arrivals and loss of revenue due to the fear psychosis among the visiting tourists arising out of the deadly Wayanad landslide, which claimed many lives on July 30, 2024.
“Comparatively speaking Ooty is situated in a safer geographical zone in the Western Ghats, with soft slopes and dense shola forests and so the landslides are a rare thing here” Suresh Nair said and added, “that the tourists are yet to get over the fear psychosis of visiting hill towns after the ghastly landslide which took a heavy toll on human life and property”.
“The restaurant business would pick up again only if tourists overcome this fear psychosis caused by Wayanad landslides”, he opined.
While dwelling on the traffic congestion in Ooty during peak summer months as the fallout of poor civic planning, Sunil Nair pointed out that the road network in the hill town remains much to be desired. The hill town has not seen any major road infrastructure development in recent years. There is no augmentation of road infrastructure taken up like constructing flyovers in vital junctions and road stretches connecting Charring Cross, Comercial Road, and Ettines Road.
“Only if Tamil Nadu Government enhance road and parking infrastructure, the traffic mayhem could be prevented and businesses revived to old glory” say the restauranteurs in Ooty.
Vital parking lots should be developed near the Hindustan Photo Film factory to tide over the traffic mayhem, which is often cited as the reason for to introduction e-pass system” opine various restauranteurs operating in the district.
“If we get a favourable verdict for our prayer to lift the e-pass system, which is in vogue for tourists to visit Ooty, we may hope for a revival of the service sector, such as the restaurant business, which solely depends on tourist arrivals for sustenance, during summer months and in the off-season”, say Nilgiris restauranteurs in one voice.
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