A tourist poses for pictures with some policemen in Bodhgaya on Monday. Picture by Suman

Patna, July 8: The serial blasts hit Bodhgaya where it hurts, triggering panic among travel and tour operators and hoteliers in the state and elsewhere.

The hotel association here claimed hoteliers are likely to lose over 60 per cent of their business in the upcoming peak season. Travel and tour operators from Bihar and bigger players in Delhi claimed they would suffer losses to the tune of 30 per cent this financial year. The immediate impact, hoteliers in Bodhgaya said, would be in the form of cancellation of bookings from Sri Lanka.

“Tourists from Lanka frequent Bodhgaya during July-August off-season. Though there have been no cancellations yet, principal tour operators from Lanka seem apprehensive and are making repeated enquiries from their counterparts in Bodhgaya regarding the conditions here,” said Arun Kumar Ojha, vice-president, Hotel Association, Bodhgaya. His association has 48 hotels and guesthouses registered under it and around 4,000 pilgrims from Sri Lanka come to Bodhgaya in July and August.

Bodhgaya’s economy depends heavily on funds flow from tourism. Pilgrims and tourists from across the globe are routed through principal agents in the respective countries to tour operators in New Delhi, who then send them to Bihar through agents here.

A day after the blasts, travel and tour operators in Delhi claimed tourists groups from far-east Asian countries have begun cancelling their Bodhgaya plans. “Only today, we received cancellations from a 15-member group from Sri Lanka and a 20-member group from Thailand. We have sent circulars to our principal agents abroad, telling them that conditions here are stable and there is no need to panic,” said Anuj Kumar, managing director, Magadh Travels and Tours Private Ltd, based in Delhi.

“A booking for Vaishali from a group of 12 people from Thailand in the last week of this month was cancelled today. Queries are coming from Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan, and we are asking principal agents in those countries to remain calm as the conditions here are safe,” said Manoj Saluja, director, Siddhartha International, a tour operator in Delhi.

Shantum Seth, a leading Buddhist tourism consultant in the American and European market, said: “Buddhist tourists coming from the European and American market are particular about their safety. Being a pilgrimage centre, a large number of elders and children come to Bodhgaya. They would be apprehensive of their safety now.”