Lucknow: Easing of covid restrictions and opening of newly constructed Kashi Vishwanath corridor has created boom in the tourism industry at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Unlike previous years, a large number of tourists from across the country and abroad have flooded the lanes of holy city of Varanasi. The tourism industry in Varanasi is upbeat seeing the heavy flow of tourists in otherwise off-season during summers and monsoon.
In the months of Sawan i.e. July and August only nearly one crore tourists have arrived in Varanasi this year which in itself is a record. The number of tourists coming to Varanasi in July and August this year has surpassed the figures of Taj city of Agra in UP. After the Kashi Vishwanath corridor was opened around 1.75 crore tourists have visited Varanasi in the last six months. Seeing the flow of tourists coming every day the hotels and guesthouse owners in Varanasi have added in their accommodation capacity and most of them are planning for expansion.
According to the hotel owners in Varanasi, usually very few tourists used to come to this city during May, June and July but the trend has changed this year. While several lakhs of people thronged city in May and June the numbers crossed to more than 3-4 lakh per day in July when the pious Hindu month of Swan started. They claimed that the business has gone up by at least 50 per cent this year compared to previous few years.
According to them, the glorification of Ganga Aarti and beautified Ghat of Ganga has added to the attraction of Varanasi and the tourists coming here are now spending more time than earlier. They said that due to the rush seen in the off-season of June & July this year, there was no discount in the hotel room rent. Vivekanand Patel, owner of a prominent hotel in Nadesar area of Varanasi said that it seems there would be no dearth of tourists in the city due to the Kashi Vishwanath corridor. He said that after the pious month of Sawan ended on August 12, there has been very little drop in tourists flow.
The administration of Kashi Vishwanath temple informed that around 1.75 crore people have offered prayers in the last six month after the opening of corridor. According to them, the head count is easy due to the cameras installed at the temple gate. During the Monday in the months of Sawan 7-8 lakh tourist came to Kashi Vshwanath temple while the number swelled to 10 lakh on the last day August 12.
