A move to kill business?

The sudden travel ban and mandatory institutional quarantine for Maharashtra passengers has agents fuming.

Pradip Lulla, CMD, Cupid Travels

All my clients travelling to Dubai have cancelled their bookings because of this sudden travel ban and institutional quarantine that has been imposed only for Maharashtra passengers. Not just Dubai, even domestic sectors from other states have cancelled due to the mandatory quarantine requirement. This was a total of 25-30 clients gone! These were all families who had booked with us for the month of December. We are now booking for February on the assurance that we will refund clients 100 per cent of their amount if cancelled.

Ajay Chhabria, MD, In-Time Travels

I am livid with this new rule. I had 24 passengers booked for Dubai for December and since this announcement, I have only been busy making their cancellations. These were high-end clients staying at five-star hotels and all of them have cancelled their bookings, except two who are travelling in January. I have even tweeted to Aaditya Thackeray that this makes no sense at all as passengers, before 12 am, were allowed to exit the airport but after a minute they were quarantined. This has also added to my clients’ cost of extra hotel stay which is nothing less than Rs. 4,500 per room.

Shivdatta Wagle, Director, Meandering Vacations

Year 2020 has been a year of despair for the industry. Things had started looking up since November, especially for international destinations like Maldives and Dubai, and we had a few queries in progress for the upcoming Dubai festival, too. However, with the latest rules on quarantine we are seeing clients backing off. This is indenting the already depleted morale of travellers who are losing confidence in making their travel plans. Though domestic enquiries are still in place, they are not getting firmed up due to unavailability of clear SOPs for interstate travel. A clear channel of communication needs to be opened.

Dharmesh Advani, Director, Bombay Travels

Finally when the business was picking up to some extent, the new protocol issued by the government has put all the plans in jeopardy. My clients who are currently in Dubai for holidays are calling in panic and are stressed. Further, on arrival at the airport, there is a lot of nuisance and the staff is unaware of what is expected out of them. The government should have some plans put in place so the new protocols can be followed more efficiently. Luckily, no client of mine was travelling at the time.

Inputs by Hazel Jain