Amritsar’s tourism sector in crisis, hotels fear closure

Amritsar’s tourism industry is looking down the barrel. There are around 700 hotels and guest houses in Amritsar which attract international as well as domestic tourists. But all of them are running empty, and fearing closure.

Amritsar has plenty of tourist attractions like the Golden Temple, Partition Museum, Town Hall, Sadda Pind, War Memorial, Jallianwala Bagh, Attari-Wagah border, Durgiana Temple, Heritage Street, Ram Tirath Complex, Gobind fort and Pul Kanjari. But there are no tourists in sight, and hardly an help has come from the government to improve the situation.

Its gourmet tradition, found in roadside eateries dishing out delicacies such as kulchas, chhola-bhaturas, tandoori chicken and fried fish, has been struggling too, said a Hindustan Times (HT) report.

While it is difficult to assess the true extent of tourism industry losses at this point, it can be said that all stakeholders directly or indirectly connected to the sector have been hit badly.

Before the lockdown, the district had an average footfall of nearly 1 lakh domestic and international tourists on weekdays, and 1.5 lakh on weekends, according to the Punjab tourism department. But that’s now a thing of the past, and recovery will not be easy. Also, shopkeepers at the Attari border are facing a tough time due to the closure of beating the retreat ceremony for last two-and-a-half months, the HT report said.

Various tourism associations have requested for government intervention. They have sought a short-term GST holiday and some relief in electricity bill payments. But there has been no positive response so far.