TIRUPATI: Businesses related to hospitality and tourism, which had been affected the most by Coronavirus pandemic, are slowly picking up in and around Tirupati, though they are nowhere near pre-Covid-19 levels.
Leisure tourists have started visiting hotels, resorts and hill stations in the Tirupati tourism division, considered one of the major revenue sources for AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) after Visakhapatnam.
This, of course, happened after centre relaxed restrictions on the tourism and hospitality sectors.
Since then, the corporation has resumed all tourist services from June 8, except pilgrim package tours. APTDC has restarted its services at the famous hill station – Horsley Hills. It has also opened its chain of restaurants and hotels at Tirumala, Srikalahasthi, Puligundu, Kailasakona and Palamaner.
Pre-Coronavirus, Horsley Hills generated monthly revenue of Rs. 50 lakh for the corporation. The average annual income from various tourism packages was Rs. 2.5 crore in the Tirupati division. APTDC earn around Rs. 1.5 crore from its seven hotels at various places in the Tirupati division.
Tourism corporation’s divisional manager R. V. Suresh Kumar Reddy told Deccan Chronicle that despite Covid-19 fears, people have started their outings. This has increasing traffic, especially to Horsley Hills. The hill station earned Rs. 1.24 crore during April–October this year, which is 44 per cent of Rs. 2.81 crore it generated during the same period last year.
Similarly, the corporation’s restaurant at Tirumala alone is now fetching about Rs. 1 lakh per day. Earnings from all its wings, except transport, are Rs. 1.72 crore, as against previous year's Rs. 4.3 crore.
To tide over the financial stress the APTDC is going through, its divisional manager said they have approached TTD executive officer K. S. Jawahar Reddy for darshan tickets to pilgrims choosing the corporation’s packaged tours, which would be a major source of revenue.
“APTDC has resumed all operations except the transport wing, which generated Rs. 2.52 crore during April-October last year. Its revenue this year is zero due to Covid-19 pandemic”, Suresh Kumar Reddy explained.
He hoped a positive response from Devasthanams’ executive officer will help the corporation start pilgrim packages and generate revenues to cut down losses. The divisional manager announced that APTDC will restart its local temple packages from Wednesday onwards.
