Agra struggles to accommodate Taj-struck tourists

The attraction of the Taj Mahal lures tourists to Agra, each season. In December, the rush towards the city reaches its peak.

Finding a place to stay often plagues tourist every year. But this December, the situation has grown worse for tourists, especially those who have not cared to reserve a room in the local hotels in advance.

Most star hotels are already showing occupancy figures of 95 per cent and even the medium-class hotels are turning down requests for a room on the New Year's eve citing full occupancy.

Rakesh Chauhan, executive president, Hotel & Restaurant Owners Association, Agra said that though the Agra tourist season began in October, the last couple of weeks in December and the first week of January was the busiest time for hoteliers in the town as besides a huge influx of foreign tourists arriving in Agra and the domestic tourists, the period also saw coincided with school holidays.

He said all the hotels in Agra taken together had a capacity of around 11,000 rooms which was not sufficient considering the importance of Agra as a tourism hub of the country.

As a result, he said, most of the star category hotels in the town remained packed all through December and January and nearly 80 per cent of the tourist traffic in the town was catered to by some 260 budget category hotels.

Already, he said, anticipating a rise in the number of tourists arriving in the town following the Taj being included in the world's seven wonders, the budget and medium class hotels of Agra had declared upto 20 per cent discounts on room tariffs and other services. This had resulted in a lot of domestic tourists preferring to stay overnight in Agra instead of driving back to Delhi and other nearby cities.

To cater to the growing demand for tourist accommodation each year, he said, a number of budget hotel projects were currently underway in Agra, expected to be complete in a couple of years. adding another 1000-1500 rooms to the total room capacity, but considering the large number of tourists who had to turn away from the hotel desks for the lack of rooms, at least five thousand more rooms are needed.

But such a huge capital investment is not possible for small entrepreneurs of the town and unless a few large international hotel groups decide to develop their own infrastructure here, the shortage of rooms is bound to become unmanageable in a few years, he adds.