VISAKHAPATNAM: Lockdown which entered the 101st day on Friday, has dealt a severe blow to the trade in the city. Though shops, hotels and malls reopened on June 8 under Unlock 1.0, they have been doing hardly 25 per cent of normal business. Trade circles said people are staying away from shopping and luxury and most of them are making minimum purchases of only urgent requirements.
Even hotels are registering only 20 per cent of footfalls and there is no improvement in occupancy in the last 25 days, they said. Former president of AP Hoteliers Association T Satyanarayana said only 20 to 30 per cent of business was reported after reopening of hotels in the city.
Speaking to TNIE here on Friday, he said some of the hotels were again closed due to lack of patronage. Occupancy in most of the hotels, including plush and budget hotels, was as low as 15 per cent. Even now buses, trains and flights are not being operated full scale.
Of the over 1,500 hotels and restaurants, only 400 to 500 were reopened and some of them are downing shutters due to lack of patronage. Labour is yet another biggest problem they are facing now. Most of the workers who returned to their hometowns, are not willing to come back due to fear of COVID-19.
The situation will be more or less same for another six months or till a COVID-19 vaccine is available in the market, he said. Satyanarayana said they will take their problems to the notice of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy through Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao. He said they want exemption from property tax and relief in electricity bills.
A general manager of a budget hotel in Dwarakanagar said they did not open the hotel as there was no flow of tourists and also no corporate officials were visiting the city, who are the mainstay of their guests. The hotels, which are given for paid quarantine, are functioning to some extent.
The hotel industry is undergoing toughest time ever and those in the trade are fighting for survival, he said. CMR MD Mavuri Venkata Ramana said the shops and malls were hardly doing 25 to 30 per cent of normal business. There has been a total change in people’s lifestyle. Most of them are giving importance to health. They are also giving priority to spend with family most of the time.
Though the shops were allowed to open till 10 pm, they are closing by 7 pm due to absence of customers, he said. CMR Central where 25,000 people used to visit daily before COVID-19, only 3,000 people are visiting it now.
People who used to come to spend time shopping, are not coming. There will be no improvement in business though festival season started with Ashadam. After COVID-19 vaccine is made available, it will take two to three months to return to normalcy, he added.