Coronavirus: Many hotel association office bearers estimate a 30-35 per cent cancellation rate
With six cases of Coronavirus emerging in Agra, worries are mounting about the losses to the tourism industry in the west Uttar Pradesh town, home to the Taj Mahal and many other monuments visited by lakhs of people from India and abroad.
The samples of six people from Agra, who had come into contact with a confirmed coronavirus case from New Delhi, tested positive for the virus, the ministry of health announced in a press conference earlier today. A group of Italian tourists who have also tested positive for the virus were in Agra a few days ago - they are now quarantined in New Delhi.
At the Taj, the most famous monument in the city, videos taken by local journalists showed a sizeable crowd, some of them wearing masks but many others without any protective gear. "So far we have not observed any significant drop in the number of tourists. But we have sensitized all staff here. We have distributed masks to them and asked them to keep a watch on any suspected cases who have symptoms as per the advisory given to us by the local authorities," said Basant Kumar Swarnkar, Superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India that manages the Taj Mahal.
Agra also has a range of hotels, including the Jaypee Palace, run by the Jaypee group where a host of foreign dignitaries stay or freshen up when they visit the Taj. The most recent high profile visitors here were American President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who took a tour of the Taj Mahal during their India visit.
"It is not a very good sign. It is spreading lots of negative vibes across the industry. There have been knee jerk reactions and our hotel alone has seen 600 room nights cancelled since the corona virus scare," Hari Sukumar, President of the Tourism Guild of Agra and vice president of the Jaypee Group of Hotels, told NDTV.
A board at the reception of the hotel asks those who visited China in the last few weeks or anyone with any symptoms of the corona virus to report to district health authorities without delay.
Many hotel association office bearers estimate a 30-35 per cent cancellation rate so far for hotel rooms across different categories. "I appeal to all resident to avoid crowded places till the coronavirus scare is there," Agra's District Magistrate Prabhu Narayan Singh said in a video appeal on Tuesday evening.