The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday sanctioned resuming of all hotels in the capital as well as allowing weekly markets on a trial basis.

Hotels in Delhi are finally going to reopen, after being closed for nearly five months due to the coronavirus lockdown. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday sanctioned resuming of all hotels in the capital as well as allowing weekly markets on a trial basis. They will proceed with social-distancing guidelines and preventive measures.

Welcoming this major announcement of opening of the Hotels & restaurants in Delhi, Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Tourism said, “Opening of the two biggest segments of the tourism industry viz hotels & restaurants in the country’s capital is a positive move that will help push domestic travel and give much relief to the industry which has been reading itself with all health and safety protocols.”

"We welcome the move of the Government for reopening of hotels in Delhi. We are thankful to Anil Baijal, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi and Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (IC) for this initiative. This decision will enable the revival of the industry and help sustain the livelihood of many employees affected by the lockdown. We look forward to resuming operations as per new norms and with strict hygiene and sanitisation protocols," stated Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Executive Committee Member, Hotel Association of India and Chairperson and MD, Bharat Hotels Limited.

Surendra Kumar Jaiswal, President, HRANI and Vice President, FHRAI said, “Lockdown has created too many barriers and the future for the hospitality industry in particular, is going to be tough but we need to press the reset button with optimism; confidence and ability to take on these challenging times.”

Further commenting on the development, Dr Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group said, "We welcome this decision of the DDMA to finally allow the operation of hotels. This will enable the sector in Delhi to be at par with neighbouring states. This will enable the industry to slowly boot itself for the new normal. It will also give the respite of getting out of their houses and enjoying hospitality options in the city. We are awaiting details of the order."

Similarly, while thanking the LG and CM of Delhi, Hotel Association of India (HAI) expressed that the association welcomes the move by the State Government to allow the hotel and hospitality businesses to start operations again in New Delhi. Indian hospitality industry holds immense potential to be a global leader and we believe this move will slowly help the capital-intensive, people-centric sector to gradually inch towards revival.

While the opening of hotels in Delhi will help in aiding the resurgence of the sector, there is a lot more support required to keep the Survival, Revival, and Thrival of the industry in mind. We have been aggressively pursuing the government - both State and Central - to allow an extension on loan moratorium, relief towards Property Tax, Excise Duty, Fixed Electricity, and Power Costs. Our vision is to provide all the necessary elements that will propel the sector towards heightened growth in the years to come. Extending support to the government, we have also proposed to bring in an inter-state task force to share the load in reviving the sector, the association added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has given permission to start the hotel, restaurant and hospitality services in the tourism sector from June 8, 2020 in a phased manner. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had issued SOPs or Protocols for the operation of Hotels, Restaurants & other accommodation Units and Ministry of Tourism had subsequently come up with Operational Guidelines for Hotels, Restaurants & other accommodation units which were circulated countrywide.