Nainital Tourism Hit After Minor Girl’s Rape Sparks Outrage; Over 50% Hotel Bookings Cancelled

The uproar over the rape of a minor girl in Nainital has left a negative impact on the tourism business. Over 50 per cent of the prior bookings for Thursday were cancelled in the city of lakes. As per reports, hotel owners are also getting calls to cancel bookings for the coming days.  

A 65-year-old local contractor has been taken into custody on the charges of raping the minor girl. Markets remained closed all day due to public outrage. People vandalised several shops and protested outside a local mosque, demanding strong action against the accused.

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Hotels remained open, but after videos of the chaos went viral on social media, tourists suddenly started cancelling their bookings. The infuriated crowd, comprising Hindu groups, marched across the city, forcing the businessmen to shut their establishments.  

There are over 500 hotels and guesthouses in the city. This time, the tourist season had arrived early, but business suddenly declined after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. There were hopes for this weekend but the tourism industry suffered another blow due to this incident in Nainital.  

Due to the cancellation of tourist bookings, boating in the lake was also affected. Tourist spots in and across the city remained deserted. Taxi businesses also got hit due to a sudden outrage, which led to a drop in footfall of tourists.  

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Digvijay Bisht, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, said that about 50 per cent of the bookings were cancelled by tourists on Wednesday, and calls to cancel weekend bookings were also increasing, as per Jagran.com. He also condemned the rape of the minor girl and demanded strict punishment for the accused.