Tourist footfall hit due to floods, drops by 30-50%

Tourist footfall has dropped between 30 to 50 per cent in the holy city after floods ravaged Punjab as well as other parts of the country. This has turned out to be yet another jolt for the tourism industry here which had incurred heavy losses on account of prolonged border tensions between India and Pakistan, starting from the Pahalgam massacre and culminating in Operation Sindoor.

Manager of the Golden Temple Bhagwant Singh said there had been about 30 per cent decline in the arrival of Sangat (devotees) at the holiest Sikh shrine since the floods intensified in the region. Keeping in view the less footfall, he said they pressed into service men and material from the Golden Temple in the flood-affected areas of Punjab, including Sultanpur Lodhi, Dera Baba Nanak and Ajnala. Ration from Golden Temple’s Guru Ramdas Langar Hall is being diverted to the flood victims.

Officials and vendors at the Amritsar railway station stated that there was about 40 to 50 per cent decline in the footfall of people in comparison to what it was over a fortnight ago.

That marked once again a sharp decline for the hospitality sector, considered backbone of the city’s economy, offering employment to a cross-section of people, from vendors to hoteliers.

Jaspreet Singh, a hotelier, said tourists were returning to Amritsar, albeit in smaller numbers, after the city saw a sharp dip in visitors due to border hostilities between India and Pakistan.

Floods in different parts of the country in general, and Punjab in particular, have prompted withdrawal of advance booking by tourists. A majority of the tourists arriving in Amritsar are those who have their itinerary prepared in advance for neighbouring mountainous states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

For instance, there are four trains between Amritsar, Jammu and Katra. Presently, these trains stand cancelled due to heavy rains and flood.

A tour and travel operator Sarbjit Singh said that in June, tourists started returning in small numbers as room occupancy at luxury hotels across the city had dropped to around 10 per cent. Tourists are returning but the recovery is extremely slow and they anticipate that the previous levels could only be achieved by the last quarter of this calendar year.