Tourists vanish in tourist-friendly town Mt Abu

Jaipur, March 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) Mount Abu, the Rajasthan city that buzzes with tourists, both domestic and foreign, wears a deserted look today with hotels showing almost zero occupancy, according to tourism officials.

According to Rajasthan Tourism, around 3 lakh tourists visit Mount Abu each month. However, the city looks deserted with hotels showing zero occupancy, said tourist officials.

"There are no tourists seen in the city for the last two days. All of them have left... Two days back, there were around 5-10 tourists. The situation changed on Friday. Both domestic and foreign tourists have left Mount Abu," said Bhairon Singh, field officer, Mount Abu.

It's a major loss for the city which thrives on tourism, he said, adding, hotels and tourist destinations are almost empty. "Today, being Saturday, a large number of tourists normally throng this place," said Singh.

"As per the decision of our hotel association, we have closed all hotels and restaurants from March 21 to March 31," said Yogi Raj, a hotelier from the city.

"We are following an advisory issued by the administration asking hoteliers and restaurants to shut down for sometime", he said.

When asked about occupancy, he said, "In March, we have had around 70 per cent occupancy. But this Monday onwards, it came down to less than 10 per cent and this Friday it was almost zero."

In March many tourists from Rajasthan and Gujarat come to the town. Foreigners too enjoy the place around the same time.

"This month too, we had many bookings both of domestic and foreign tourists. But we have had to cancel almost all bookings", said Raj.

We shall keep our hotels closed till April 15 as a precaution, he said.

"We have asked our staff to go on leave till March 31. It will be a paid leave," he said.

Source: IANS