No chartered flights from Europe this year too

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Attempts to bring chartered flights from Denmark, Portugal and Norway to Kerala have failed as there are no takers. This year too there will not be any chartered flights to Kerala, adversely affecting the tourism sector.Thomas Cook, First Choice, Oriental Routes and Le Passage to India are the leading companies operating chartered flights to Kerala. After recession, they have not been able to operate any services to Kerala.Joe, manager of Le Passage to India, said that this year attempts were made to operate chartered flights from Denmark, Portugal and Norway which did not work out. The tourists were not able to spent for the chartered flights owing to recession in European countries.There were also attempts to operate a flight from Russia which was canceled at the last minute. In the present scenario, there will not be any flights to Thiruvananthapuram for the next two years.“Beach tourism is the main attraction of the tourists arriving in Kerala. Their first preference is Kovalam and then Poovar, which did not make any success in this tourism season,’’ said Joe.There are some hotels which exclusively cater to the tourists who arrive  in chartered flights. Several rooms remained vacant in Kovalam in the month of December, 2011 and the business was almost nil at Poovar.Great India Tour Company chairman E M Najeeb said that chartered flights were not operating to Kerala for the last three years. There were cancellations at the last minute leading to operators dropping their plans.Apart from the fall in the arrival of chartered tourists, there is a 30 per cent dip in the tourist arrival to Kerala owing to the Mullaperiyar dispute and recession. There are several tourists who take the Southern circuit to reach Kerala through Tamil Nadu and their favourite destination was Thekkady, which saw a major decline in tourist flow. However, tourism director Rani George said that compared to last year, the number of foreign tourists had increased.According to the statistics available till September 2011, a nine per cent increase in foreign tourist arrival was recorded.The tourists who come in chartered flights usually arrive in Thiruvananthapuram and then proceed to other local destinations. They also opt to move to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka from here.