After three-day rail track blockade, tourist flow bounces back to normal in Amritsar

Tribune News Service

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, October 1

After a three-day blockade of railway tracks that ended on Saturday evening, tourist flow has bounced back with full vigour in the holy city on Sunday. Rough estimates suggest that over one lakh tourists arrived in the city.

Hoteliers, taxi operators, auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, dhabas and restaurant owners were happy that tourists were not deterred by the farmers’ agitation and arrived in the holy city by road, overnight buses and trains today morning.

They said as Gandhi Jayanti would be celebrated on Monday, this offered tourists a prolonged weekend to spend time out of their homes.

Satnam Singh, a hotelier, said the room occupancy had reached 100 per cent. He said all taxis and autos were also booked. Huge rush of tourists was witnessed on the Heritage Street, Jallianwala Bagh, the Golden Temple and other tourist spots in the city. Spectators surpassed the entire seating arrangements at the Attari Joint Check Post.

Gurinder Singh, a tour operator, said the holy city became a major attraction for tourists in the Golden Triangle circuit — Delhi, Agra and Jaipur — as they found value in spending at least two nights here and enjoy added attractions such as the Heritage Village, Gobindgarh Fort, Ram Tirath, War Museum and Sadda Pind.

Tourists from the National Capital Region (NCR) find an added attraction in the cultural capital of Punjab. Earlier, their choice was mostly confined to Agra and Jaipur.

However, the holy city is offering enough choice in all segments of the hospitality industry like luxury, middle-segment and budget hotels. Besides local eateries serving authentic Punjabi cuisine are an added attraction for visitors.

Harpreet Singh and Payal, a young couple from New Delhi, said the travel to the holy city was convenient as it was well connected with the national capital by air, road and rail.

“Spiritual ambience at the Guru’s abode in the Golden Temple, patriotic fervour at the Jallianwala Bagh and at the Attari Joint Check Post, besides friendly locals beckon us to visit here again,” they said.