BHUBANESWAR: The ongoing protest over Citizenship row in parts of North-East, Bengal and New Delhi has marginally affected hotel business in Puri. Despite being the peak season, tourists from these States are unable to reach Odisha due to frequent cancellation of trains owing to protests.
Secretary of Hotel Association of Puri, Raj Kishore Patra said as several trains from West Bengal and North East States to the pilgrim town have been cancelled in the last three days, booking of nearly 40 rooms have already been cancelled in 12 hotels.
On Monday, East Coast Railway (ECoR) announced cancellation of at least 12 trains to Odisha from West Bengal, Assam and other parts between December 16 and 19 due to the protests over CAA and cancellation of connecting trains.
Patra, however, said “Though this may affect visit of tourists from West Bengal and North East, their business will largely remain unaffected due to inflow of tourists from other parts.” Assistant Director, Tourism, Bijay Kumar Jena said the statistics obtained from 480 hotels in Puri reveals that the present occupancy rate has remained between 60 to 70 per cent. “The rate will cross 90 per cent as advance booking of hotel rooms between December 24 and January 5 is completed in many hotels.”
Jena said the occupancy rate of tourists from West Bengal is also below 10 per cent. “However, we expect that normalcy will be restored by this week and tourist inflow to Puri from all parts of the country will remain encouraging.”
Chairman of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) JK Mohanty also said the overall impact of the protest on tourism sector in the State is negligible. Due to the ongoing protest in other States, tourists are preferring Odisha as their favourite destination where the situation has remained peaceful, he added.