By IANS,
Ahmedabad : Hotels in Gujarat are facing a sharp fall in occupancy rates as people are avoiding travel to the state following Saturday’s serial blasts that claimed at least 50 lives.
N.K. Somani, vice-president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Gujarat, said: “The occupancy rate has fallen substantially since many people have cancelled or postponed their visits to Ahmedabad.”
Twenty-one blasts ripped through Ahmedabad Saturday, killing at least 50 people and injuring over 200. On the days following the terror strike, 22 bombs were found in Surat, about 200 km from here.
According to Hyderbhai, president of Ahmedabad-Mehsana Hotel Association, there has been a drop of about 30 percent in the number of customers going to highway hotels for food.
Mukesh Dave, secretary of All Gujarat Transporters Association, said that since the blasts, the number of trucks coming to Gujarat has fallen by about 15 percent.
He said normally about 8,000 trucks to or from Mumbai pass through the check point at Bilad, about 300 km from here, every day. However, in the last four days there have been about 2,000 trucks fewer every day.