KARACHI, April 15: The hotel industry in Karachi suffered a setback as law and order situation deteriorated after the Nishtar Park tragedy on April 11. Consequently, the room occupancy in leading hotels of the city plunged to 50-55 per cent compared to over 90 per cent during the Expo 2006, held from March 29 to April 2.
The business for small hotels in Saddar and its adjacent areas has also been hit badly. A source in the Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA) told Dawn that the big hotels had witnessed cancellation of room reservations and bookings by the foreigners and even by the local guests.
There are also reports that guests have checked out much before their actual departure date in view of the uncertain situation.
The source added that the PHA members were planning to hold a meeting with the higher ups of the federal and provincial governments next week to discuss the situation arising out of the law and order problem that is adversely affecting the hotel business.
Business activities, including retail and wholesale markets and industrial production in Karachi remained paralysed from Wednesday to Friday after Tuesday’s incident, inflicting an estimated Rs1 billion loss per day to the national kitty in taxes and duty only. Besides, losses, for not meeting timely export commitments by the exporters, also ran in millions of dollars in the last three to four days.
The majority of rooms in leading hotels were packed during the Expo 2006, as about 1,000 foreign businessmen from 57 countries were in the city to evaluate business options and hold discussions with their counterparts for augment trade.
The Nishtar Park tragedy sent a negative signal to the businessmen all over the world who were planning to visit Karachi. The year 2006 has proving to be a difficult year for business. Earlier, hotels had registered a drop in room occupancy following violent demonstrations in many cities against the blasphemous sketches in some European newspapers and an explosion near the American Consulate in Karachi ahead of President Bush visit.
General Manager of Gulf Hotel in Saddar, Sabeel-ur-Rahman said that after Tuesday’s tragic incident at Nishtar Park the room occupancy had plunged to 20 per cent from 100 per cent existed on the eve of World Social Forum (WSF) and Expo 2006.
“60-65 rooms in the hotel have been vacant for the last three to four days out of a total 73 rooms,” he said. Most foreigners and locals have already checked out from the hotel much ahead of their actual check out dates, he added.
Hotel business, he said, depends on the city’s law and order situation besides, on some political scenarios. Any untoward incident or act of terrorism leads to the hotels’ business collapse.
He also claimed that the phenomenal drop in room occupancy was also witnessed in other hotels in Saddar and its adjacent areas.
