TBM Staff - Mumbai The third wave of coronavirus pandemic in Delhi has hit the tourism and hospitality sector in the national capital hard with field experts and owners of travel agencies and hotels in the city reporting a 60-70 per cent dip in their businesses.
According to tourism sector experts, Delhi gets its maximum tourist inflow between October and April. Tourists, from across India and abroad, come to Delhi not only to visit the city and its historical landmark, but also use it as a gateway to near by popular tourist hotspots such as Shimla, Manali, Agra, Mathura, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Nainital, Dehradun, Ajmer, Jaipur among others.
Delhi Hotel Mahasangh President Ajay Kumar Agarwal said that there are around 500 hotels only in Paharganj area and out of which only 350 were operating after the second wave.
“The vicious cycle of restrictions due to COVID-19 and the subsequent impact on business has started again. Tourists have started cancelling their bookings and postponing their trips ever since the cases started rising in December 2021,” said Agrawal.
“Now the situation is that nearly 70 per cent hotels have no bookings after the cancellation of travel plans by tourists. Our businesses have been hit hard by the third wave. October-April is the season when we used to do brisk business, but for last two years the tourist season has not been fruitful for us,” said Agrawal.
The Delhi government’s tourism department also reported a reduction in footfall at their tourist destinations ever since the Covid and its Omicron variant cases started rising.
However, the tourism department could not divulge the data.
“We are still compiling the data regarding footfall at our tourist spots. But it has definitely come down significantly in the wake of steep rise in COVID-19 and its Omicron variant cases,” a senior official of the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) said on the condition of anonymity.Delhi’s popular tourism spots such as the National Museum and Zoo have been shut for visitors as precautionary measures due to rising Covid cases. (Source ET)
