Tourists flock to Rajasthan as Delhi chokes on post-Diwali pollution

Delhi residents and people from surrounding areas have been flocking to Rajasthan to escape the severe post-Diwali air pollution, tourism experts said. This has increased the occupancy in hotels and resorts. 

 

“For the past few years, this problem has been benefitting Rajasthan’s tourism sector. As soon as pollution in Delhi begins, people from there and neighbouring states flock to Rajasthan. On weekends, visitor numbers are record-breaking,” tourism expert Sanjay Kaushik said.

 

According to hoteliers, people are staying for two to seven days.

 

Hussain Khan, president, Hotel Federation of Rajasthan, said that currently, the tourist season is going on in the state, and due to the tourists from Delhi, the occupancy of hotels and resorts is running high. In the last two weekends, almost all the tourist cities in the state were overcrowded. In Jaipur alone, 25,000 to 30,000 tourists came on weekends.

 

Hotel occupancy is hovering between 70 and 80 per cent, out of which domestic tourists account for 95 per cent.

 

According to industry experts, people from other states are now preferring to visit Rajasthan over Delhi.

 

Tourism experts predict that this influx of domestic tourists is likely to continue till March-end.

 

Tourism is expected to boom, especially from December 20 to January 20. During this time, both domestic and foreign tourists will visit Rajasthan to celebrate the New Year and attend the Jaipur Literature Festival.