Tourism sector still in the doldrums

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 30

On June 8, hotels and restaurants were allowed to reopen after the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 24 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the local tourism industry has not reached the level of pre-Covid occupancy and tourist footfall even after over six months.

Piyush Kapoor, general secretary, Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHARA), said, failure of the Central Government in resolving farmers’ stir added to the woes of the industry.

He said the stir led to disruption of rail connectivity for the couple of months. Four pairs of trains were operational, which was highly insufficient to bring in passengers. Kapoor said the hospitality sector continues to remain in doldrums. He said hotels were incurring losses on account of low occupancy as their running cost remains very high.

Hoteliers were hoping against hope as a large number of tourists come to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on New Year. Taxi operators demanded to conduct Retreat ceremony at the Attari-Wagah joint check-post and open Jallianwala Bagh to attract tourists.

Malkiat Singh, a taxi operator said, as trains were not allowed to operate, majority of tourists came by their own vehicles and did not hired taxis.

He said taxi operators had been rendered jobless and rued that the government has not formulated any policy to bail them out of financial crisis. Hoteliers and taxi operators said there was need to swiftly resume train service, increase domestic flights and reopen other tourist hotspots in the district to increase the footfall of tourists.