After sustaining losses in the last season, the Deccan Odyssey Luxurious train, run by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), is facing hardship this season also. The number of foreign tourists opting for this train journey has come down.

Last year, owing to various factors such as the MNS agitation against north Indians and 26/11 terrorist attack, most of the foreigners preferred to stay away from this train journey.

Most of them even had even cancelled their bookings in the wake of the terror attacks.

"Last year did not prove a good one for us. While in 2007-08, the annual business stood somewhere near Rs 8 crore, last year it came down to Rs 5 crore. But this year too does not look very promising. It would be a little better than the last year. But it would definitely take at least one more year for things to become smooth," said Vijay Chavan, manager of MTDC.

The Odyssey train commences its journey from Mumbai and travels through Ratnagiri and Sawantwadi in the Konkan region before reaching Goa and Pune. From Pune, it proceeds to Ajanta and Ellora caves.

Chavan added, "This year's cold response could be attributed to a number of factors like the economic crisis, the effect of swine flu and the fear of terror attacks. The train will make six regular trips to the designated points on its listed routes. Apart from that, it will be given for rent too."

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