The hospitality industry loses Rs 200 crore due to cancellations throughout the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) said on Thursday that cancellations for Christmas and New Year celebrations, as well as those for weddings and planned events, have so far resulted in a loss of around Rs 200 crore in the hospitality industry, owing to a rise in COVID-19 cases, which has caused states to place restrictions, causing further closures of businesses without government's assistance.Now is the wedding season.Meetings and weddings were postponed.FHRAI Joint Honorary Secretary Pradeep Shetty told PTI that the introduction of the new year and all the cancellations from Christmas to now have sparked a nearly Rs 200 crore loss for the sector.

Shetty said that restaurant footfalls have decreased dramatically even at 50% footfalls, with sales and revenues now up to just 10-20% of what they were doing in December.Shetty said that after the second wave, which began in October 2021, there had been a steady increase in occupancy, revenues, and footfalls in resort and holiday locations.It was down to about 50% in cities and corporate hotels.This figure was down from pre-COVID-19 levels, but they were just encouraging indicators, and even revenue rates were rising, he said.However, this situation, he said, is currently looking at an uncertain and worrying scenario.We are only hopeful that if there is a shutdown, we will be allowed to remain open, according to Shetty, who said that considerable funds has been put in after two successive lockdowns to reopen and restart operations, as a result of the recent COVID-19 wave and the Omicron variant dampening sentiments, and that hoteliers are seeing cancellations in January 2022 bookings and enquiries for the next few weeks as a result of these two COVID-19 waves.

In addition, Shetty said that state-level reliefs such as property taxes will help.