UAE | General
Worried expats keep calling up beloved
Tour operators in the UAE said they are witnessing large number of cancellations by tourists to the city of Jaipur, after a series of blasts there on Tuesday.
- By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:33 May 15, 2008
Dubai: Tour operators in the UAE said they are witnessing large number of cancellations by tourists to the city of Jaipur, after a series of blasts there on Tuesday.
Indian expatriates who hail from the city said that they are worried for the welfare of their relatives and have been making telephone calls several times a day ensure that all is well with them.
"Jaipur known as the 'pink city' but on Tuesday evening terrorists painted it red by planting bombs in one of the most populated markets," said Vinod Rathore a Jaipur resident living in Dubai for the last 17 years. His brother lives 5km away from the place of a blast.
"I was attending to a customer in the shop when I received a telephone call from the daughter asking me to switch on the television set. It was bloody aftermath with hospitals overflowing with the injured and urging residents to donate blood. I rang up my brother in Jaipur and was relieved when he sounded clam," said Rathore.
Gatha Saxena, who works as a desk sales and customer support person in Dubai, said she was shocked to see such incidents taking place in Jaipur, which does not have a history of violence. Her parents live in Shayamnagar area that is located about 15km from on of the blast sites.
"The terrorists had chosen a market place to conduct their heinous act on purpose because in evenings the place is flooded with shoppers. There are also a couple of temples located close to that area and being a Tuesday it must be crowded with worshippers. My parents are safe and so are my friends but I am still in touch with them. My father was telling me that silence in the city is deafening," she said.
Alert situation
Kulwant Singh, managing partner of Lama Tours, said that a couple of tourists, who had booked for Jaisalmer, a city close to Jaipur, have requested their bookings to be kept on hold.
"It is an alert situation for them. There are about 2,000 bookings done to various destinations in India during this period of which 15 per cent is for Jaipur. The golden triangle package that consists of tours to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur is 30 to 40 per cent," he said.
Girish Kumar, manager of Jayshree Tours and Travels said they have received more than 20 cancellations on golden triangle bookings. "Security is the key to any tourist. This is one of the peak tourist seasons for us. We receive bookings from UAE nationals and honeymoon couples."
Housam Raydan, corporate communications manager at Air Arabia, said the airlines flies daily to Jaipur.
"We have no cancellations on any of our flights to Jaipur. The traffic so far has been good," he said.
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