Curfew lifting fails to increase business

People stay at home for fear of contracting Covid.

By Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Though the state government has lifted the weekend curfew, business in the city is yet to pick up. Many hotels that expected to earn revenue due to the lifting of the week-end curfew have incurred a loss due to the lack of footfalls.

“We have expected more crowds on Saturday and Sunday but were disappointed. Most of the hotels reported around 50 percent business on Saturday. The people of Bengaluru did not venture out of their homes as they did not want to get infected. We expect more customers during the weekends,’’ said Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels’ Association president P.C. Rao.

He said the lifting of week-end lockdown has helped around 20 lakh businessmen and professionals in the city. “Let us hope that hotel and hospitality industry do better in the coming weekends,’’ he said adding that more than 600 hotels at Electronics City, Manyata Tech Park, International Tech Park, Bangalore (ITPB), and Sarjapur Road have been closed as most of the IT crowd are working from home.

Krishna Raju of Nisarga Grand has said loyal customers have begun visiting Nisarga Grand. “As of now, our business has picked up by 60 per cent. Not many new customers have visited our hotel during the week-end. I have to incur 30 per cent loss on Saturday due to lack of customers,” said Raju.

Stating that it is too early to expect cent per cent business, Federation of Wine Merchants’ Association vice president Karunakar Hegde has said wine and liquor business has gone up by 30 per cent on Saturday. “There are more than 3,600 bar and restaurants, including 400 pubs, in the city. It would be better if the government revises timings for night curfew between 10 pm and 5 am to 11.30 pm to 5 am,” Hegde said. The weekend curfew had an adverse impact on Sandalwood. Many movie producers have postponed the release of their movies due to the week-end curfew. There are around 600 single screen theatres and more than 50 multiplexes across the state but more than 300 single screen theatres are shut down due to shortage of movies for screening.

“I am yet to think about reopening my theatre as there are no announcements on the release of big-budget movies. I have to wait till a big-budget movie is released. It may take two more weeks for Kannada, Tamil and Telugu film producers to announce the date for releasing their movies,’’ said Venkatesh Reddy, an exhibitor.

Karnataka Film Exhibitors’ Association president KV Chandrasekhar has said the occupancy at most theatres is not more than 10 per cent. “Exhibitors have incurred a huge loss due to the week-end curfew. They have to pay salaries to employees and pay electricity bills even though theatres are closed. Each of the exhibitors needs a minimum of Rs 2 lakh for maintaining the theatre, paying salaries to employees and paying electricity bills every month,’’ said Chandrasekhar.

Meanwhile, two Kannada movies, Ombatthane Dikku and DNA, are scheduled for release on January 28.

Autorickshaw drivers have to be content with meagre earnings on Saturday and Sunday as not many people hired auto rickshaws to visit malls, movie theatres and hotels. “Each of the autorickshaw drivers would have earned Rs 300 to Rs 400 on Saturday,” said Adarsha Auto Rickshaw and Cab Drivers Association secretary C. Sampath.