New Delhi, Aug. 13: The travel and tourism industry is likely to suffer in the short term as tighter security in Delhi and Mumbai ahead of Independence Day trims tourist arrivals.

Travel agents and tour operators in India have been swamped with cancellations since the plan to attack planes flying from London’s Heathrow was foiled last week.

“Inbound and outbound traffic for London saw cancellations of 50 per cent. The drop is 30-40 per cent in travel to the UK and US. Cancellations on flights to Europe have been 20-25 per cent. It is chaos,” said Balbir Singh Mayal, president of Travel Agents Association of India.

The industry says the fear of terrorist attacks by militant outfits in India will dent business travel for a while. However, there might be no leisure travel at all.

Adding to those jitters is a US embassy advisory warning against travel to India till August 16. “Whenever there is a scare like this, the tourism industry is the first to suffer. However, things are expected to look up over the next 10-15 days,” said Subhash Goyal, president of Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Hotels have also tightened their safety belts in the wake of the high alert in the two cities, but most say there has been little impact on business. “We are taking special measures. We have set up single entry and exit points, and beefed up security on all the floors,” said Lalit Suri, chairman and managing director of Bharat Hotels.

“We have not had many cancellations so far. Nor do we have information that future bookings will be rescinded,” said a senior official of Indian Hotels, which owns the Taj chain.