Maharashtra: Footfalls down at Ajanta, Ellora and other tourist sites in 2021

Ajanta Caves. Pic/AFP

The number of visitors at prominent monuments in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district came down significantly this year due to the tourist attractions being shut for some months in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, and guides as well as others dependent on the tourism industry faced livelihood issues.

Aurangabad, also known as the 'tourism capital of Maharashtra', has a number of attractions for visitors, including the world famous Ajanta and Ellora caves, Bibi-ka-Maqbara, Daulatabad (Devgiri) fort and the Aurangabad cave.

The number of domestic tourists at these five sites, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India, came down to 5.94 lakh from March 21 to November 21 this year, as compared to 19.77 lakh in 2019-20 (pre-pandemic period) and 23 lakh in 2018-19, as per the ASI data. The monuments remained closed in 2020-21 in the wake of the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Till November 21 this year, only 745 foreign tourists visited these five monuments, as compared to over 40,000 in 2019-20, as per official figures. ''The pandemic taught us to put curbs on the entry of tourists at our monuments. People learnt online ticketing and many of them have now taken it as a routine practice,'' ASI, Aurangabad, Superintendent Milan Kumar Chauley told PTI. While earlier the workload of managing tourists used to take much of the manpower, this year the ASI used the workforce for the maintenance of these monuments, he said.

''Earlier, we had to deploy the manpower to control the crowd, but this year we could concentrate on the maintenance and cleaning work as the workforce number was not curtailed despite the lockdown,'' the official said. But, the guides and others dependent for their survival on the tourism industry faced difficult times.

Amod Basole, president of the Ellora guides welfare association, said there were not many foreign flights this year and policy regarding domestic tourism kept changing in the wake of the pandemic, reducing work assignments for them. ''There are nearly 60 registered guides in our district, but half of them have left the profession. Even if the business stabilises henceforth, it will take at least three years for getting back the total strength of guides here,'' he said. Another guide Pankaj Kawde said before the pandemic, guides were in high demand at various tourist sites in Aurangabad.

''Now, many of us have no work. This shows there is panic among people. Though the footfalls at tourist sites has increased somewhat in the current winter season, the visitors do not seem keen on hiring guides. This has led to our savings getting exhausted and many guides are dependent on the income of other family members,'' he said. Some guides tried to venture into the taxi business, but had to eventually sell the vehicles due to lack of funds for paying the monthly installments of the vehicle cost, Kawde said.

Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation president Jaswant Singh said their sector faced many hurdles this year. ''Not many foreign tourists turned up in Aurangabad and connectivity was also a problem for them. Visitors coming by road were asked for RT-PCR reports at the district entry points. Tourists expected cheaper rates of various services due to less business demand, but the inflation and rising fuel prices didn't allow us to do it,'' he said. Singh also said tourists preferred going to other states in the country where there were less restrictions.

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