Agra tourism industry lost Rs 2,200 crores in past 6 months due to Taj closure in lockdown

From September 21, all religious places, training centers, and colleges will be opened for the general public in Agra, including the iconic Taj Mahal. Political and cultural activities will also be allowed with minimal restrictions.

The Taj Mahal has been closed for six months now. Under new guidelines, the number of tourists allowed inside has been restricted to 2500 in two shifts each.

According to a survey conducted by India Today, Agra has about 650 registered hotels, 3500 registered guides, and 800 registered photographers. The number of unregistered guides and photographers is equally huge. All of these people were clueless about their future for the past six months and will be making a new start from September 21 with the hope that the tourist traffic will resume like before soon.

Earlier, the usual numbers over the weekend at the monument used to be between 25-30 thousand during peak season and on some long weekends, this number even reached 50000.

If we calculate the losses caused to the tourism industry by the closure of monuments in Agra during the coronavirus pandemic, it will be in the vicinity of Rs 2200 crores. As much as Rs 72 crores was lost in just entry ticket fee.

Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber Secretary Vishal Sharma said that the Taj Mahal's reopening will be a new dawn for Agra and hopefully, international flights will be resumed soon so that international tourists can start coming to the city.

"Also, the hurdles in the path of the construction of a domestic air terminal in Agra should be removed as soon as possible. Currently, the construction of a boundary wall around the marked land was stuck as the administration had not been able to purchase a small tract of land from its owners. We demand that the railway traffic should also be resumed normally with the requisite safety measures so that the flow of tourists can become normal with time," he said.

He said that the reopening of the Taj Mahal will bring some business back to Agra, but if the number of tourists remains restricted to just 5000 per day at the Taj, it will place a bottleneck on the growth of the tourism industry in the city and this decision needs to be revised as soon as possible.

Sharma added that when the Taj Mahal was shut down for tourists, there were only six people in Agra who had been found infected and had fully recovered. There were only 114 cases all over India at that time. On March 16, the Taj Mahal was visited by 8709 tourists (7533 Indian, 114 Foreign, 52 SAARC). On March 17, the Taj was shut down by the government.

District Magistrate Agra Prabhu N Singh said that there will be certain guidelines that will have to be followed, but all places of business and recreation will be reopened, except cinema halls and swimming pools. The limit of guests at weddings has also been increased to 100 and marriage halls will be allowed to take bookings.

Reacting to the new guidelines, Approved Guides Association President Shamshuddin said that the Taj Mahal's reopening will bring a smile on the faces of over 4 lakh people in Agra whose livelihood is connected to tourism. Not just emporium owners and guides, but even the rickshaw pullers and tonga drivers will get employment now.

Tourism Guild Vice-Chairman Mahatim Singh said that the initial tourist numbers will be low, but the number will start rising when the news of the Taj Mahal's reopening spreads through the country and internationally. The tourists will then start coming and it will provide support to the tourism industry.

READ MORE | Delhi Metro to resume service on Blue and Pink lines from Wednesday

READ MORE | Govt issues SOPs for reopening of schools for classes 9th to 12th from Sept 21

WATCH | Metros back on track: A ground report from Delhi