Hoteliers protest against low-budget Andaman tourism

Swedish tourists walk on a beach in Havelock island, a popular tourist spot 40 km northeast from Port Blair, on January 2, 2005. Hundreds of tour operators and hotel owners in the Andaman islands protested on Thursday against a scheme to fly budget tourists to the islands.

PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of tour operators and hotel owners in the Andaman islands protested on Thursday against a scheme to fly budget tourists to the islands, saying it had stopped wealthier travellers from visiting.

India recently allowed all level of government employees to use their leave allowances to fly to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the remotest part of its territory, as it tried to boost the tourism-dependent economy following the catastrophic tsunami of 2004.

Many low-wage workers jumped at the chance to take their first flight and visit the islands' famed beaches, forests, coral reefs and tribal cultures -- a perk once reserved for only senior state employees.

But islanders working in the tourism industry say crowds of cost-conscious tourists are straining resources without generating much income.

"They visit the Andamans for at most a day and go back hardly spending any money," said G. Bhasker, general secretary of the Andaman Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

"Agents are blocking tickets in bulk, preventing up-market tourists who are genuinely interested in visiting our islands."

Hundreds of protesters chose World Tourism Day to shout slogans outside the tourism directorate in Port Blair, the archipelago's capital, and threatened further protests if the government did not listen.

The island's chief secretary promised to look into their complaints.

Authorities expect more than 150,000 tourists will visit the islands this year, but some estimate that around 80 percent of those are low-wage state employees.