Puri: The hotel industry in the Holy City here is on the road to recovery around a month after cyclonic storm Fani made a landfall on Puri coast.
Many hoteliers have started repairing their hotels after restoration of power supply in the coastal city. Some hotels and lodging houses have already started hosting tourists after going though massive repair works.
The hotel industry usually provides employment opportunities to hundreds of people in Puri, a major tourist destination in Odisha. However, the cyclonic storm had caused extensive damage to almost all hotels and holiday homes in the city.
“Around 800 hotels and lodging houses in Puri have been damaged by the summer storm. Hoteliers have incurred losses to the tune of Rs 500 crore due to the storm. Tourist inflow to the city dried up soon after the storm. Recently, tourists have started trickling in the city,” said Puri hotel owners’ association secretary Rajkishore Patra.
According to Patra, around 200 hotels in the Holy City have started providing service to tourists. “At least 70 per cent hotels and holiday homes would resume operation within a couple of days. We hope that all hotels would be ready to welcome visitors prior to Rath Yatra, scheduled to be organised July 4,” Patra said.
It is learnt that the Electricity department has restored power supply to around 70 per cent hotels. The department has assured the hoteliers to restore power supply to the remaining hotels within a day or two, sources said.
The hotel owners’ association, meanwhile, urged the state government to provide additional time to hoteliers to repay their bank loans. Moreover, the state government has been urged to launch a massive campaign to attract tourists to Puri. “The state government can organise road shows and promotional events in and outside India to attract tourists to the city,” said an hotelier.
Tourism department assistant director Bijay Kumar Jena said the tourist inflow to the city would go up during the Rath Yatra. “The hoteliers should restore their infrastructure to host the visitors,” he added.
According to sources, the authorities of Hotel Mayfair have completed all repair work and they would start hosting tourists very soon.
As many as 63 rooms out of total 92 at hotel Holiday Resort have been repaired to accommodate visitors. “We would restore all our facilities within a few days,” said an employee of the hotel.
“Hotels including Ananya and Golden Palace have resumed operation recently. All the 30 rooms of Hotel Pramod have been repaired and made ready for the visitors. Several other hotels would start operation within a week,” said a source in Puri hotel owners’ association.
