With the Taj Mahal reopening on Monday, the Agra tourism industry is gearing up to welcome tourists to the city with bated breath. Industry sources have indicated there are chances that the number of tourists coming to Agra will remain low throughout this season despite the obvious attraction of the Taj Mahal’s reopening.

In such circumstances, reopening their businesses to cater to tourists appears to be a risky proposition to most of the handicraft emporium owners, who claim that most of their clientele are foreign tourists and since the international flights are not operating due to the Covid-19 crisis, there was no point in reopening the emporiums.

A meeting of handicraft emporium owners and other tourism-related businesses of Agra was held recently under the aegis of the Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber. It was decided that considering the current Covid-19 crisis and the effect it has had on the economy of the city, the decision to reopen the emporiums and other businesses should be left to the individual business owners.

Speaking to Vijayupadhyay.com, chamber president Prahalad Agarwal said that despite being allowed to reopen their businesses from Monday, most emporium owners have decided to remain closed for the rest of the month, as low domestic tourist volume arriving in Agra from nearby cities like Delhi, Kanpur, Lucknow, etc., does not justify the operational expenses incurred in keeping the emporium open.

He said that in the absence of any flights operating for Agra and no trains running to the city, long-distance tourists were hardly expected to arrive and most of the traffic to the city will be of weekend tourists from NCR and other nearby areas.