Aurangabad, Jan 9:
Thousands of foreign tourists visit Aurangabad city between October to March. However, there were no international tourists this year due to Covid-19. Lack of foreign tourists has not only hit the tourism sector but also hit the foreign exchange, bringing down the turnover to just 30 per cent.
The city normally observes a healthy flow of foreign tourists during October, November and December, which starts coming down from January till May and again improves during monsoons. However, there were no tourists arrivals this year due to Covid-19. The most visible and immediate impact of Covid-19 is seen in the hotel and tourism sector. As tourists places were closed and given the restrictions to hold meetings, conferences and exhibitions left a huge impact on the foreign exchange earnings. As foreign tourists coming to the city have stopped completely foreign exchange business has come down to only 30 per cent. According to officials "Currently, people leaving Aurangabad are going to Dubai, US, Germany and the Maldives. Out of these, Maldives is being preferred by citizens for tourism. But compared to last year, the proportion of citizens going to the Maldives for tourism is only 10 to 15 per cent.
Exchange comes to a standstill
Foreign tourists come to the city for a stay of 5 to 6 days. They also spend a large amount of money. This benefits everyone from city hoteliers to hawkers at tourist destinations. However, this has come to a halt for now. Thus the exchange of foreign currency on a large scale has almost come to a standstill.