Alappuzha: The houseboat industry in Kerala, which was on path to recovery from the Global Economic Recesion, was facing yet another threat, the spread of swine flu across the world.
''We are in the processs of recovering from the impact of the economic recession with the bookings from domestic tourists, particulary those from North India.
But the spread of the dreaded flu across India dampened our expectations,'' Houseboat Owners Association General Secretary Rajan Peter told UNI.
Since the houseboat industry depended mainly on foreign tourists in the past, the growing economic recession decreased the flow oftourists from foreign countries, particularly those from the US, UK and France, he said.
''However, with a large number of domestic tourists, particulary those from Gujarat and Pune, turning up we were on the verge of compensating the slowdown of foreign tourists and had quite comfortable advance bookings,'' he pointed out.
According to the data, the composition of foreign to domestic tourists was 70:30. Now, the situation reversed and it was 30:70 in favour of domestic visitors, he claimed.
Since people from IT sector were the second largest customers for boating, the recession hit their turnout also, he added.
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