Tourism Has No Cause For Panic

Most of the prominent travel agencies handling in-bound tourists have faced no cancellations yet mainly, as Sudha Mahajan, assistant manager, Mercury Travels points out, "because there hasn't been any publicity about the fever". And the industry would ideally like to keep it that way. The Travel Corporation of India, which has had three cancellations and several enquiries about the epidemic, feel that the position will be made clear only in the coming week as to whether this will affect tourism adversely. Says Rajeev Aneja, assistant manager, First Options: "Fear has started creeping in and if the situation persists then it can be quite bad for the industry. But the good thing is that no country has declared India unsafe yet." And so, with hope in their heart and a prayer on their lips, the industry waits to bid farewell to the Aedes mosquito.