Sunday, 16 January 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
A combination of Covid-19 and the weekend curfew imposed in Delhi have substantially affected weekend tourism in Nainital. Whereas, the city used to bustle with tourists on the weekend in the past, this weekend the lake city wore a deserted look sans the usual crowd of tourists.
Since the past two days, clear skies and warm sunlight during the day hours has brought considerable relief from the cold to the people. Last week, the cloudy and rainy weather had brought down the temperature consistently in Nainital. Though it is still cold here, the sunny weather is providing some relief. Despite this, the number of tourists has dropped considerably. The rising cases of Covid-19 and the weekend curfew imposed in Delhi have severely impacted tourist footfall here. Those in the tourism and hospitality industry estimate that these factors have impacted the business especially on the weekend by about 95 per cent. The Naini lake which is generally dotted with boats ferrying tourists wore an almost deserted look with only a few boats with tourists being seen on the lake on Saturday. Members of the business fraternity state that they have been facing the effects of Covid pandemic on their business for the past two years. When the situation appeared to be returning to normal, rising Covid cases have once again started affecting their work.
