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Anniversary-Mumbai November 26 Attack: Tourism, Traffic Rebounds

by Ravi Dixit | November 26, 2009 at 12:57 am

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On November 26 last year, India witnessed one of its biggest acts of urban terrorism. South Mumbai was successfully targeted by 10 terrorists and the seige continued for 60 hours.

Today the city is bustling and fully recovered from the fear the attack inspired. In addition to the Mumbai attack, bombings had occurred in Delhi September 2008, Bangalore July 2008, Hyderabad August 2007, Ahmedabad July 2008 as well as a failed attempt in the Western Indian city of Surat where 18 live bombs were recovered and diffused.

Once the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil was replaced and P Chidambaram took over as the Union Home Minister, the chain of deadly bombings that had the whole country in the grip of fear stopped.

The turnaround started on December 5, 2008 when thousands of people on the streets of Mumbai demanded the Home Minister as well as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state resign. In the last year the state has seen assembly elections where the ruling party (Indian National Congress) came back to power and R R Patil is again back as the Home Minister.

Mumbai Tourism Rebounds After 45% Downturn

In the months following the attack, business in the starred hotels saw a downturn, as did crowds at city malls, multiplexes, pubs.

Hotel tariffs have dropped by as much as 20% after last week's terrorist attacks on Mumbai that forced international tourists to cancel travel plans. Tariffs may fall as much as 45 % in some centres coupled with the impact of a global slowdown that is already forcing companies to cut travel plans, analysts and travel agents say.

According to industry players, tariffs for hotels in Mumbai alone have come off from Rs 12,000 to Rs 10,200, overnight. Five star hotels in Kerala and Jaipur, on the other hand, have seen a 10 to 12 % reduction in room rates.

As per the following report in Financial Express the rebound in hotel occupancy across all major metros including Mumbai are reeling under the double impact of economic downturn and terror attacks.

In what could be termed as the fastest turnaround for the hospitality sector, key metros in the country are once again facing a shortage of hotel rooms, compared with a 50% drop in occupancy at its peak last year.

Traffic Jams Due to Reconstruction

The only thing holding the Mumbaikar's back from taking to the roads is that almost half of the city is dug up for projects ranging from Metro to Monorail, and trains are running to full capacity. People are thronging to beaches as well as tourist attractions like the Gateway of India.

Today the citizens of Mumbai are remembering their fallen heroes and getting on with their work.