PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, Jan 6: With the imposition of fresh curbs by the Jharkhand government including the ban on entry of visitors in the tourist spots, parks, zoos and wildlife sanctuaries till January 15, different travel agencies across the district experience massive cancellation of their advance bookings across prominent tourists sites of the state.
Taking a rough survey of the travel agencies across the district it was found that major bookings of the year are experienced during the month of October to March. The government imposing fresh curbs will hit the annual earnings of the travel agencies for the second consecutive year.
At the same time Sr Divisional Commercial Manager, Aditya Choudhary confirmed that the imposition of curbs has increased the cancellation of the railway tickets.
“People are also taking precautions and restricting their unnecessary movements amid rising covid cases in the state,” Choudhary said.
On the other hand, officials of the Airport Authority of India at Birsa Munda Airport said that 32 flights are flying from the airport as usual and no such huge cancellation is noticed after the curbs came into play in the state.
Besides cancellations, travel agencies’ numbers were flooded with calls from tourists who were keen to get refunds against their cancellations.
Sai Tours and Travels said that there were almost 30-40 bookings for Bella National Park and Netarhat, which are now canceled because of the new guidelines of the state.
Adarsh travel manager Ramesh Shukla said that with the closure of tourist spots across the state almost all the advance bookings are cancelled and it will affect the earnings of the company.
“Till January 1, we felt that this year the earnings will be better than the previous year, but for the second consecutive year our earnings are going to be smashed by the government’s imposition of fresh curbs,” Shukla said.
The closure foiled the travel plan of many across the state. Subhashish Upadhyay, a resident of Dumdum in Kolkata, showed up in Ranchi with his family on Tuesday morning.
“I had plans to visit Dassam, Hundru falls, Betla and Netarhat with my wife. Yet, subsequent to showing up here, we discovered that the places of interest have been shut. Presently, we have no other choice except to return,” Upadhyay said.
