INDIA: Fears that attacks have scared off foreign tourists and investorsFrom Raymond Thibodeaux in Mumbai
TOURISTS are flocking back to the Leopold Café, a popular hangout for backpackers and other foreigners that became a target of mayhem last week when two gunmen opened fire there, killing seven people, including two foreign tourists.
"I thought this place would be half empty, but you have to stand in line to get in," said Martin Walton, 26, from Sunderland, who returned to the café after six weeks of backpacking across the country.
"Now there are bullet holes near the table I was sitting at six weeks ago," he said, nursing an ice-cold Kingfisher beer. "I don't care. I'll keep coming back here."
The Mumbai attacks brought India's financial and entertainment capital to a standstill for three days, as at least 10 gunmen rampaged across the city, killing 171 people and injuring more than 230 others. At least one British national died.
In the aftermath of the attacks, seen here as India's 9/11, Mumbai appears to be limping back to normal. Coming back from such a brazen, well-coordinated and deadly attack is putting the city's reputation for resilience to the test, especially in the face of new warnings of fresh attacks on the country's three main airports.
It is part of the economic impact of the assault already being felt in the country' $1 billion-a-year foreign tourism industry, and some analysts say they expect a ripple effect across the spectrum of an Indian economy already grappling with a downturn brought on by the global credit crunch and the falling rupee.
Many in India's financial community are wary that the Mumbai attacks could scare off foreign investors and business leaders who helped spur India's economic boom for the past three years. This year, multinational companies such as Microsoft and IBM have ploughed about $40 billion into India.
"The idea of 8% or 9% economic growth and the idea of India shining, of the nation becoming an economic superpower - you can forget it until the security system is entirely overhauled," Ajay Sahni, director of New Delhi's Institute of Conflict Management, told reporters.
India's commerce minister, Kamal Nath, has said that the attacks in Mumbai would not have any long-term impact on the Indian economy. He said that most foreign investigators are aware that terrorism can strike anywhere in the world.
Still, it seems to strike with surprising regularity in India. Since May, India has suffered eight attacks - mostly bombings in crowded markets - that have killed more than 400 people and injured more than 1000. Since 2004, more people have been killed in India in terrorist attacks than in any other country except Iraq.
Attackers have targeted major cities such as New Delhi, Jaipur and Bangalore as well as Mumbai. They are key tourist hubs that attract more than 4 million visitors every year, including 734,000 British nationals, according to the Bureau of Immigration statistics.
Tourism makes up nearly 6% of India's gross domestic product, employing more than 40 million people in hotels, restaurants, retail shops and travel agencies, according to the country's tourism ministry.
The attackers struck at some of the most visible symbols of India's prosperity. The Oberoi Trident and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotels are pricey and opulent venues where heads of state, movie stars and business executives from around the world convened over tea and cucumber sandwiches.
It is likely that the two hotels will be out of commission for about a year.
Around the corner from the Leopold Café, at least 50 hotel workers waited outside the management office of the Taj, to find out when, or if, they could come back to work.
Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata, chairman of the group that owns the 565-room Taj, has vowed to pay the salaries of the hotel's staff until the hotel is back up and running. The restoration is expected to cost more than $110 million.
"However long it takes, whatever it takes, this hotel will stand," Tata said this week.
The terror attacks in Mumbai have worsened what was already a slow tourist season. Many Westerners have reined in spending fearing a global recession. The country's economic growth rate is expected to slow to a seven-year low of 6%, with or without the attacks, analysts say.
"It would be too easy to pass the buck on to the terrorist attacks. There were some problems in India's economy before the attacks. At most, the attacks will exacerbate those trends, but not in a profound way," said Robert Broadfoot, director for the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy that assesses Asian businesses.
Even before the Mumbai siege, India ranked one of Asia's riskiest places for business, according to a recent consultancy survey.
A total of 28 foreigners were killed during the 60-hour siege. Some of the attackers demanded passports from hundreds of hostages at the two hotels to single out British and American nationals.
Meanwhile, many of the city's other luxury hotels remain virtually empty, despite offers of deep discounts on room rates to lure vacationers and business-related travellers back to India.
"Normally at this time of the year our lobby is bustling with people. Sometimes they have to wait to get a seat in the café. Now our food is getting spoiled because no-one is here. Everyone is still afraid to come to the hotels," said Amar Sidiqi, a manager of the Bombay Baking Company cafe in the lobby of the beachside JW Marriott hotel.
"It's sad because this was a fun and peaceful café where people came to take a break," he said. "There's nowhere to take a break now."
Some stepped-up security measures were initiated after a suicide truck bomb destroyed the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, in September.
At the Mumbai Marriott hotel's entrance, dozens of police with automatic rifles stand guard behind a makeshift bunker of cement bags filled with sand.
Cars must pass a gauntlet of security checks. Hotel guests are ushered through a string of security measures too: metal detectors, frisking by security guards, and luggage being opened and thoroughly searched.
It is not exactly the blissful pampering advertised in the country's tourist brochures.
At the Taj, where the three-day siege ended in a hailstorm of machine-gunfire and exploding grenades, thousands of pigeons have returned to their favorite spot between the hotel and the Gateway of India.
The pigeons here, often seen bursting into flight on many tourist postcards, were scattered far and wide amid the sporadic gunfire and explosions during siege.
"In our country, pigeons are a symbol of peace," said Titoo Singh, 48. The Sikh tour guide was at the Taj to survey the devastation as construction workers carried out huge bags of debris from inside the hotel.
"We are not rich people, but we are a people rich in culture. I see our pigeons have come back and so my heart is happy inside."
The UK Foreign Office lifted its warning against unnecessary travel to India this week, but urged visitors to be cautious, especially in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.
