Rajkumar Chatterjee, a tourist from Kolkata, reached Visakhapatnam on November 9, for a week’s stay in the port city. Little did he know that a decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the night of November 8, would jeopardise his week-long fun that he planned with his family.
The demonetisation scheme has hit the tourists hard.
Talking to The Hindu , he said, “I was carrying all Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. And they turned into waste paper, as neither the hotels nor the taxi drivers or the restaurants for that matter, refused to take the currency, as they were no longer legal tender.”
With great difficulty, he could get in touch with a common friend who helped him out with some change and exchange a few notes of Rs. 500.
“My tour, which was planned for a lavish outing, has turned into rationed living,” he lamented.
This has been the case with most of the tourists, who feel that they are stranded despite the government giving a clear instruction that tourists are exempted.
The tourists are facing problem for minor things such as paying auto charges or buying gift articles from roadside stalls, as every tourist does, or for paying food bills at small eateries.
“We have not encountered any problems in big malls, as there are card swiping machines. But not everybody can afford to do shopping at malls. And most importantly, this city is new to us and we are unable to exchange our notes at the ATM counters, as they are either not working or there is a big queue,” said Arup Sen, another tourist from Burdwan district in West Bengal.
According to Sunit Kumar Panja of Nimantran Hotel, the tourist flow has suddenly died down.
“Being a hotelier, we are in touch with most of the lodges and we understand that there are over 30 per cent cancellations. This is the beginning of the tourist season and if the trend continues then the business for this season is hit badly,” he said.
Besides tourism, the flow from the city has also slowed down.
According to the Welfare Group of Tours and Travels, there are about 10 per cent cancellation of outbound travel and those who are planning have indefinitely postponed their travel plans.
“People do not want to take the risk, till things settle down,” said an executive of the tour company.
Last year, the city of destiny recorded about 1.15 crores of tourist footfalls, which included about 69,000 foreign tourists.
The tourism season is at its peak from October to January, which stood at about 40 lakhs of the 1.15 crores, which accounts for about 35 per cent in four months.
