Jaipur, Jan 1 (IANS) The New Year has come as a boon for the hotel and tourism industry in desert state of Rajasthan with the majority of hotels reporting 85-95 percent occupancy in the past couple of days.
According to industry pundits, there is a big rush of both domestic and foreign tourists to Jaipur and other destinations in Rajasthan, especially during New Year week Dec 30-Jan 4.
“There is a big rush. The new year has certainly come as a boon for the tourism industry. We have not seen this kind of rush in the last couple of years. Almost all the big and leading hotels are fully booked and even if they have some rooms vacant, they are charging high tariff, especially Dec 30-Jan 3,” said Roop Singh, a travel agent.
He said majority of bookings in hotels are coming in from Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
Echoing similar views, N.K. Sharma who runs a travel agency said hotels which were reporting an occupancy of 50-60 percent till recently are now reporting almost 85-95 percent occupancy in Jaipur.
The tourists arrivals have been so much that even the government owned Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation’s hotels are reporting a pretty high occupancy.
The New Year eve celebrations were held in almost all the top hotels and clubs in Jaipur Dec 31 and all of them reported big rush.
“Though dinner was costly, we paid Rs.16,000 for a couple, but no grudges, we enjoyed every minute of the celebration…,” a newly married couple said.
Traffic police in Jaipur had a difficult time in controlling traffic.