Industry body urges Centre to lift flight restrictions in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

An association of hotels and restaurants has urged the Union government to lift restrictions on flight landings in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to aid the coronavirus-hit tourism sector of the Union Territory.

An association of hotels and restaurants has urged the Union government to lift restrictions on flight landings in Andaman and Nicobar Islands to aid the coronavirus-hit tourism sector of the Union Territory. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration will resume tourism activities in some parts of the archipelago ahead of the festive season, after a gap of almost seven months, an official said.

Around 35,000 families in the region depend on the sector for livelihood, he said. The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, in a letter to the Union tourism minister, had recently sought removal of flight landing restrictions in the UT along with ensuring inter-island connectivity for tourists.

"At present, the biggest challenge faced by the tourism and hospitality industry here is the action of the administration to limit the number of flights each day to only two against the usual demand of 18 flights," FHRAI vice- president Gurbaxish Singh Kohli said. Tourists will not be able to land in Port Blair if there is poor flight connectivity and in the absence of ferry services, their itineraries would also be disrupted, the official said.

According to some estimates, a loss of Rs 8,000 crore has been projected due to the suspension of tourism activities in the UT since March in the wake of COVID-19.