While all kinds of businesses are adversely affected due to the Indo-Pak tensions, the biggest impact has been on the tourism industry of Amritsar where the number of tourists has decreased by 90 percent and the 10 percent of tourists who come to visit the religious place in the ‘Guru’s City’ only arrive during the day and return home and do not need any accommodation to stay during this period.
This is the reason why it has been directly affecting hotels and resorts here and there, which have reached zero. If we consider the next aspect of this, then this industry has suffered a double loss because more than 90 percent of people have canceled their bookings, so on one hand the loss is included in the hotels’ own expenses. Amritsar Hotel Restaurant Association Civil Line (Ahara) says that this has affected Punjab but only in Amritsar this industry has suffered heavy losses. Ahara has demanded a relief package of Rs 300 crore from the Punjab government in this regard.
Ahara President A. P. Singh Chatha says that at present all the hotels and tourist residences in Amritsar are lying vacant, while even empty hotels without customers incur huge expenses related to their maintenance. This includes electricity bill, salaries of permanent employees, from waiters to cooking staff. On the other hand, house tax, cleaning, sewage and water expenses related to the municipal corporation are all included.
Marriage and celebration functions cancelled
Ahara President A. P. Singh Chatha has said that the large number of people who have cancelled their marriage functions etc. in hotels/resorts in Amritsar are having to bear the greater loss because for this, advance amount is also given to the hotels for catering etc. There, the caterers have either booked or purchased the material for the related function, which increases the impact of this entire economic hit many times over.
A. P. S. Chatha, who is also the CEO of Punjab Hotel Resort and Restaurant Association in addition to Amritsar, says that Amritsar is a tourist hub, but apart from this, the tourism industry in the entire Punjab has suffered huge losses. To compensate for this, a high-powered committee should be formed in which a committee of senior officials related to the tourism department and selected highly educated MLAs should be formed to investigate the extent of the loss. Singh said that after this, a package should be decided for the entire Punjab.
