Kerala tourism affected by mosquitoes!

Kerala, hit hard by a viral fever caused by mosquito bites, is apprehensive that the tourist season starting mid-October might not take off.

For a state whose economy relies heavily on its flourishing tourism industry, 60 reported chikungunya deaths, as the viral fever is known here, could not have come at a worse time than this.

The maximum chikungunya deaths so far have occurred in Alappuzha district, a favourite tourist destination in the state with its popular houseboats. The other tourist destinations affected by the disease are the districts of Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.