Hotels bookings have started taking place in Varanasi!

After breaking its own record of lighting diyas at the Ayodhya Deepotsav on November 13 to mark Diwali, UP government is now gearing to celebrate Dev Deepawali in Varanasi on November 30.

With chief minister Yogi Adityanath having given the go-ahead for the celebration of the festival, the district administration has started work of sanitizing markets, boats and hotels. Representatives of the hotel association have said that with coronavirus cases showing a declining trend in UP currently, they are expecting footfall to increase by about 15% around the festival.

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President of Benaras Hotel Association Gokul Sharma said that hotels have been receiving several queries from tourists and bookings have also started taking place. “Arrangements have been made to completely sanitize hotel rooms, boats and markets. The hotel industry is confident that as soon as the central government starts granting visas, foreign tourists would start pouring in and the tourism industry will see a significant revival,” said a government spokesperson.

Kirtiman Srivastava, tourism officer of Varanasi and Vindhyachal division, said that before the spread of coronavirus, about 3 lakh domestic and foreign tourists had been visiting the city but the number of tourists during the peak of the pandemic had reduced to zero. However, since August, the number of tourists has been increasing and in September, 5,025 tourists had visited the city.

On Dev Deepawali, all ghats illuminate with diyas and an aarti is held at the ghat. The festival finds mention in Shiva Purana where it was celebrated to mark the day when Vishnu killed a demon named Tripura Sur who was troubling gods during the month of Kartik. After he was killed, the gods celebrated Diwali. It is believed that on this day, all the gods and goddesses are present at Varanasi’s ghats.

News Courtesy: ET