Amidst the second wave of the coronavirus and the state-wide lockdown, the Hotel Association of India (HAI) has requested the Finance Minister to offer hoteliers and those in the travel and tourism business to offer relief under emergency credit line guarantee scheme.
This comes after several business owners have been urging for due compensation in view of the pandemic and the shutdown of businesses. Moreover, according to reports, the HAI wants the finance ministry to extend the moratorium period and reduce the loan interest rate in order to make up for the huge losses.
Furthermore, several hotels across the country which remained shut for nearly 6-8 months, reopened in a staggered manner and were recovering somewhat on the strength of domestic leisure tourism, wedding functions and family get-togethers. However, due to the second wave of COVID-19 and the spike in coronavirus cases and subsequent lockdown in some states along with night and weekend curfews, reduced limits on the number of guests allowed for functions and other restrictions, the industry has been severely impacted again.
In the midst of the massive spike in the number of coronavirus cases, the Maharashtra government imposed fresh curbs and a night curfew from Sunday night, March 28, which has caused distress among businesses that are associated with the hospitality, food and beverages sector fearing that stringent rules could cripple the industry.
Moreover, hawkers in the city have also said the night restrictions will see them losing 70 to 80 per cent of their revenue as sales are high during the evening time. As a result, those who depend on daily income will suffer a lot. Taking note of new curbs, police have started shutting down hawkers from 7 pm, said Hawkers’ union.
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