Hotels, restaurants urge Maha govt to extend business time till 1 am

Restrictions imposed during the Corona period have caused major loss to hotels and restaurants. The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India has asked the Chief Minister and the Tourism Minister to remove the existing time limit and return it to 1.30 am.

Of all the regions in the country, the tourism sector has been hit the hardest by corona. Business came to a complete standstill after the lockdown was imposed. To date, 30 per cent of the country's hotels and restaurants have been permanently closed due to financial losses. More than 20 per cent of hotels and restaurants are not yet fully open and the remaining 50 per cent are at a loss.

Sherry Bhatia, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India, said that in the current scenario, it has become impossible to run a hotel or restaurant in terms of rent and salary costs, repayment of old debts, low business and electricity bills, salaries, other charges. Our attempts to undo it by resuming business are failing. Currently, at least one dose of the corona vaccine has been administered to about three crore people in the state and the number of new patients is steadily declining. In such a scenario, we urge the government to take immediate steps and help the citizens to recover from the huge financial losses incurred in the last 18 months.

"As hotel hours are not feasible for hotel business, we urge the government to reschedule restaurant hours all day of the week as per the establishment's licensing time," Bhatia said. It was also said that the business would be better if the time was extended.