A day after, Indian industry counts losses

‘‘There are more losses to human life than the economy, since neither manufacturing nor other economy activity have suffered long-term losses. But three ships have been damaged at Chennai port and a major part of Port Blair has been severely damaged. This could amount to Rs 150 crore,’’ said an Assocham spokesperson.

Tourist inflows to South East Asia are likely to bear the brunt of the economic aftershocks of the Tsunami, as tourists the world over hit the panic button.

‘‘In the last 24 hours, 20 to 40 per cent of all flights to coastal destinations in South East Asia and India were cancelled. This trend is likely to continue over coming days,’’ says Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent with travel company Amadeus India.

Even regions untouched by the Tsunami and its aftershocks are likely to face cancellations. This, in a year that Goa, favourite destination of South-bound tourists at this time, saw record arrivals. Bhatia believes most trips to coastal hot-spots will be cancelled this year.

‘‘We’re not getting calls or queries from tourists — we’re only getting cancellations, right now,’’ he says.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism grew at nearly 37 per cent over 2003-04, in Goa alone.

Around 3.0 million tourists came to India over 2004, till November and December, 2004, was expected to bring in at least 3.5 lakh more people to the country. This is a 24 per cent growth over last year’s arrivals.