Paharganj guest houses full of empty rooms

NEW DELHI: First it was September 11, then came the US air strikes in Afghanistan, Gujarat riots and now a looming threat of an India-Pakistan face-off turning nuclear. The hotel industry couldn’t have had it worse. Smaller hotels and guest houses in Paharganj, usually stacked with domestic and foreign tourists around this time of the year, are now full of empty rooms.
Hotel Syal, for instance, has just received an e-mail from a potential customer in Australia, cancelling his trip to India and his booking with Hotel Baba Deluxe, another branch of Syal.The reason: ‘‘Circumstances beyond our control’’.
‘‘Though not directly, it is made obvious tacitly that war clouds are keeping them away,’’ said Kishen Patra, manager with Hotel Syal. In January this year, the hotel had close to 100 overseas bookings, with tourists from the US topping the list. In the last one month, they have plummeted to just 31.
‘‘Even queries we received for bookings have not been followed up. Naturally, they are not coming,’’ Patra said.
Hotel Yuvraj Deluxe started booking over the Internet last December, but has already felt the pinch of dwindling demand. ‘‘Just two or three days back, our customers from the US and the UK cancelled their bookings,’’ said Vijay, hotel manager.
Not just foreigners, even domestic tourists have reduced this year. ‘‘This is vacation time and families from all over India should be here. This year hardly anyone is coming,’’ an employee with Hotel Ramayan International said. What’s barely keeping these hotels and guest houses going are people on business trips.