Tourists are not the only ones who seem to be bearing the brunt of demonetisation.
Cheap eateries, shops and hotels of Paharganj have always been popular among budget-tourists in Delhi. However, since the government's surprise decision to scrap high-value currency notes last week, the tourism business has faced a dip and foreign tourists are left helpless.
"We can't use the taxis and rickshaws because we can't pay for them," says Sharon, a British tourist in her fifties who has been coming to India for many years now. Her partner, Graham, adds, "One is supposed to spend money to get money back, that's the only way you can get rupees!"
"We were without food for two days in Rajasthan because nobody could sell us anything," says 24-year-old Chernakova from Russia.
"It was difficult to get to the hostel, all the ATMs were closed", adds Aaron from the USA who was visiting India for the first time. Another tourist, Rizwan from Sri Lanka said he has decided to go back to his country after futile attempts to exchange money from banks.
Tourists are not the only ones who seem to be bearing the brunt of demonetisation. Local hotel owners and money exchangers are also strained by the sudden footfall of tourists.
"Our occupancy used to be 80-90 per cent earlier," says Rajinder Budhraja, director of Hotel Namaskar in Paharganj. "Now (after demonetization) only 40-50 per cent of the rooms are occupied. Most tourists now come out of fear," he adds.
Currency exchangers are worried due to the lack of cash. "Every tourist is facing challenges in exchanging money. We don't have change or anything to pay small bills ourselves; our business has come to a standstill," said Rajiv, a local money exchanger.
In the past 10 days, tourism reservations have fallen by 30-40 per cent, sources in the Central Tourism Reservation office (CRO) in Delhi said. Two days after the government announced the currency ban, tourist numbers dropped so low that the CRO itself has to cancel all bookings to nearby destinations.
However, Foreign Tourist Arrivals in October this year saw a 10 per cent hike compared to last year, the government has said.