TN hotel industry hit hard by ban on dining out

With the state witnessing an alarming surge in Covid cases, the Tamil Nadu government has slapped a ban on dining inside the hotels and restaurants, allowing only parcel sales over the counter. 

The president of Chennai hotel owners' association, M. Ravi, told IANS, "Parcel sales are very low and we have sold much less than what we sell during regular periods. Moreover, we have a workforce that has to be retained which is mostly migrant workers as our local workers have already left for their native places within the state. The situation is grave and had the government allowed at least 50 per cent dining within the restaurants, we could have earned something for a living." 

Many restaurants have decided to shut shop as they are not able to meet their expenses with the current sales. 

Krishna Kumar Rajagopal, the owner of Variety Hotel in Chennai, told IANS, "Ours is a relatively new restaurant set up with heavy investment. But I am disappointed as after the restrictions came into effect, parcel counters alone cannot meet our recurring expenses. I think that it is better to shut the shop down rather than incurring more losses." 

The state president of Tamil Nadu Hotel Association, M. Venkatasubbu, also sounded apprehensive about the hotel business during the time of Covid. 

"The hotel industry is facing a major crisis and almost 25 per cent of the hotels in Tamil Nadu have downed shutters as sales are not in expected lines while expenses to maintain workers and other incidental costs continue to remain the same. Hence many hoteliers have nothing to do but to face the inevitable," he told IANS. 

Several hotels which are on the highways have already closed down their units as most of them do not have any parcel counters. 

Joseph Mathew, who runs a restaurant on the Madurai highway, has decided to close down his business as there are no takers for parcels. 

While speaking to IANS, Joseph said, "I have to shut my hotel as there is no business and on a highway, you can't have parcel sales as most of the customers are travellers who eat in the restaurant. I have to maintain a workforce. I was expecting the government to allow at least 50 per cent dining inside the restaurants to prevent them from closing down, but with this order, we can't carry forward.