TLTP
\nNEW DELHI
\nIndia\u2019s tourism sector will continue to struggle despite last week\u2019s reopening of the historic Taj Mahal and other top attractions as part of the country\u2019s ongoing efforts to kick-start the economy, according to industry experts.
\nWith international tourism into the country still largely restricted, and even Indian citizens put off travel because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the slowdown in the sector will be more prolonged than previously forecast, analysts predict.
\n\u201cBecause of this pandemic, people aren\u2019t even prepared to travel within the country,\u201d says Ankit Singh, the founder of Extra Edge Travels, a New Delhi-based company that offers tours in India and abroad. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like this industry has come to a halt now. We\u2019ve been impacted financially and we had to issue some refunds out of our own pocket.\u201d
\nDespite the reopening of the 17th-century Taj Mahal and other tourist attractions, coronavirus infections continue to surge in India. On Saturday, India\u2019s total confirmed Covid-19 cases crossed 5.9 million after more than 85,000 new infections were added in 24 hours, according to government data.
\nAccording to a report released this month by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the travel and tourism industry is expected to lose a total of $65.57 billion (Dh240.8bn) as a result of the pandemic.
\n\u201cThe coronavirus pandemic has given a crippling blow to the Indian travel and tourism industry,\u201d CII says in the report.
\n\u201cThe shutdown and slowdown, which was initially expected to affect revenue streams until October, have now indicated otherwise and it will be far more prolonged than the sector had earlier anticipated.\u201d
\nHotels in India are only likely to be able to achieve an occupancy level of 30 per cent until the start of next year, according to CII, which adds that revenue streams are likely to be eroded by 80 to 85 per cent.
\n\u201cThe figures are quite alarming and the industry needs immediate measures for survival,\u201d CII said.
\nThe travel and tourism industry in India makes up 9.2 per cent of the country\u2019s gross domestic product and employs 8.1 per cent of the population, its figures reveal.
\nIn a report released in June, Grant Thornton in India and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) forecast that there could be more than 40 direct and indirect million job losses in the travel and tourism sector.
\nThe latest data available from India\u2019s Ministry of Tourism shows that the country received 10.56 million overseas tourists in 2018, which generated $28.59bn in foreign exchange earnings. Two of India\u2019s biggest source markets for tourists are the United States and the United Kingdom, which are also struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
\nAt the beginning of the government-imposed lockdown in March, which closed hotels and brought commercial flights to a standstill, \u201cWe fell of the cliff there and we were completely locked out for two months, as was the rest of the country\u201d, Vibhas Prasad, director of Leisure Hotels Group, says.
\nWith limited flights within India restarted in May and the government permitting hotels to open in June, Prasad says the company, which has 27 properties in India, including in the states of Uttarakhand, Goa and Himachal Pradesh, was up and running again within a matter of days.
\nBut he says occupancies have remained low because of strict requirements imposed by individual states, which, for example, require domestic traveller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP NEW DELHI India\u2019s tourism sector will continue to struggle despite last week\u2019s reopening of the historic Taj Mahal and other top attractions as part of the country\u2019s ongoing efforts to kick-start the economy, according to industry experts. With international tourism into the country still largely restricted, and even Indian citizens put off travel because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n