People fear the new covid variant and increasing cases.
Very few visitors for Nandi Hills, this season amid Omicron fear. Will face another period of loss, say resort owners and travel agencies.
R K Shree, the owner of R K Tours and Travels informed the Observer, “There have been many enquiries this week for Nandi Hills. We did get a few bookings too but all are cancelled as of now. Nandi hills is a very prominent tourist spot and since its reopening in this week,we were expecting a rush of tourists but due to the new variant and I guess the general fear of covid has restricted that. It is going to be another hard year for tourism industry.” The recent landslide might also be a reason for less footfall, he further added.
Neha Sharma, from Brigade travels had a similar story. They got many enquiries for but only two bookings for next week. “Although we were expecting a good number of bookings since people are vaccinated and cases are less . However,the bookings are not even close to what they used to be.” She said. Business hasn’t been very good and with this new variant we don’t expect it to be any better,added Sharma.
Resorts in Nandi Hills and near the foothills do see a rise in the number of visitors but the number is relatively less from pre- covid times.
Neha V, manager of Discovery Village resort in Nandi Hills said, “We have a few visitors this week and for the weekend too. We try to follow all the covid- appropriate protocols in the resort. We either ask for vaccination certificate or RT-pcr report before allowing them inside the property. The safety of our staff is also equally important for us. The footfall is very less. With the opening of the hills we had expected more bookings but as of now they aren’t much.”
Hangouts @ Nandi Hills, a resort and camping site on the foothills of Nandi hills said that the footfalls of has been good these days especially on weekends. “There have been many visitors but but also some cancellations this week. The resorts nearby too have seen a similar thing. We have a capacity of 400 and not more than one fourth of the resort is booked. I think it is because of the new clusters and the new variant that people are becoming fearful again.”
People are reluctant of travelling to tourist places.
Sahil Choudhary, 23, a travel enthusiast said that he was planning to travel to Nandi hills this Sunday but hecancelled it after he heard about the new variant. “My friends and I were thinking of going for a drive to Nandi Hills but with the new cases in Bengaluru, it doesn’t feel very safe to travel to places where there is a possibility of a crowd.”
Nandini Gupta, 22, a student, also had similar view. “People don’t follow any covid norms anywhere, so it is better to stay home. I am not planning to travel to anywhere this year as of now.”
The government announced the reopening of Nandi Hills from Wednesday, December 1 this year . The New Indian Express reported that there is uncertainty around people travelling to Nandi as heavy rains triggered landslides in the place. The hills station see a total of 3000 visitors during weekdays and nearly 8000 during weekends as per the report.
