When the lockdown had started and all apprehensions of the tourism sector taking a hit were doing the rounds, the sentiment was rock bottom. However, I remember one reader being very particular and saying that the tourism quotient of Udaipur is such, that when things come back to near normal, the city’s tourism sector will be at its rocking best.  This is exactly what has happened, and more.

Reports received from the Regional Tourism Office, Udaipur show a near 1 million domestic tourists visiting Udaipur in 2021, with 67% of the total being recorded in the last 5 months of 2021. Between August till December, the City of Lakes recorded nearly 7 lakh tourists, with 2 lakh coming to Udaipur earlier in the cooler months from Jan till March.

Additionally, in 2021, the months of August, September, October, November and December have seen the maximum tourist hits on Udaipur in the past decade. August recorded 100,580  tourists, September 86,240; October 115,450; November 160,000 and in December the number was 180,000. (See graph below).

Domestic tourism boom in 2021 at Udaipur has released a major burden of lost business during the lockdown in the past 12 months. With international tourists still just trickling in, and with the onset of the third wave brought forth by the Omicron variant, not much is expected from foreign tourism. The city and its tourism related businesses are keeping their fingers crossed for the coming months.