With the Taj Mahal reopening on Monday, the Agra tourism industry is gearing up to welcome tourists to the city with bated breath.
Industry sources have indicated there are chances that number of tourists coming to Agra will remain low throughout this season despite the obvious attraction of the Taj Mahal's reopening.In such circumstances, reopening their businesses to cater to tourists appears to be a risky proposition to most of the handicraft emporium owners, who claim that most of their clientele are foreign tourists and since the international flights are not operating due to the Covid-19 crisis, there was no point in reopening the emporiums.A meeting of handicraft emporium owners and other tourism-related businesses of Agra was held recently under the aegis of Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber.
It was decided that considering the current Covid-19 crisis and the effect it has had on the economy of the city, the decision to reopen the emporiums and other businesses should be left to the individual business owners.Speaking to India Today, chamber president Prahalad Agarwal said that despite being allowed to reopen their businesses from Monday, most emporium owners have decided to remain closed for the rest of the month, as low domestic tourist volume arriving in Agra from nearby cities like Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, etc., does not justify the operational expenses incurred in keeping the emporium open.He said that in the absence of any flights operating for Agra and no trains running to the city, long-distance tourists were hardly expected to arrive and most of the traffic to the city will be of weekend tourists from NCR and other nearby areas.Agarwal said that another meeting will be held in October in which the future of the tourism industry in Agra will be discussed.
He said that in view of the high number of Covid-19 cases being reported every day in Agra and rest of the country, it was quite likely that the tourist volume would be low throughout the current tourist season which places the very survival of the local tourism industry under question.When India Today spoke to the local budget hotel owners, they claimed that most hotels are closed in Agra as there is hardly any tourist coming to the city for night stays.
Although some restaurants have reopened inside such hotels, they are also operating with minimal staff.Rajesh Gupta, a local hotelier who owns a couple of budget hotels, claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown have broken the back of the budget hotel industry in Agra and currently, most of the hotels are under huge debts.He said even though the lockdown has forced hotels to remain closed for almost six months now with minimal power consumption, electricity bills have been mounting due to the minimum charges levied by the local power distribution company Torrent Power and many hotels are finding themselves unable to pay these bills.
He added that banks are refusing to grant loans to hotels for reorganisation and expansion without assigning any particular reasons, making it more difficult for the hotels to keep operating.Meanwhile, the UP Guides Welfare Association has announced that its member guides will provide free guide services to the tourists arriving at the Taj Mahal on Monday in a bid to welcome them again to the city.Association President Deepak Dan said that the guides will not only guide the tourists on their monument tour but also make them aware of the changed safety and sanitation guidelines at the Taj Mahal and other Agra monuments.