“No hotel has cancelled the festive season events which will take place on a grand scale throughout the season, a time for relaxing and merry making,” Shanthikumar said.City hotels are already being decorated and geared for the festive season, a time looked forward to by local customers and foreign travellers who wish to be out during the winter season.

Around 30 city hotels have lined up a series of events for the Christmas and New Year season, with dinner dances for both eves and a host of events for children and adults to offer memorable experiences to guests. However, according to hoteliers, this year’s winter season may not be at its best due to certain cancellation of bookings.

When asked about it Shanthikumar said, that there has been only a few cancellations due to the travel advisories and that is around 10-15% of the bookings for December and January. A city hotelier said that what is of concern is not the immediate cancellations, but the future ones as the winter season goes up to April.

However, according to hoteliers occupancy rates in the city have been around 60 % during the year and there is a possibility of the rate going up to 65 % during the season.With regard to hotels being built in the city, Shanthikumar said work on most properties is progressing well and added that with the completion of work around 5,000 rooms will be added to the current 8,000 hotel rooms in the city. However, according to Shanthikumar, city hotels are unable to attract a large number of visitors as the city lacks events to make it vibrant and attractive for travell ers.