Punjab’s hospitality sector fears downtrend over Canada-India stand-off 

Hosp. & tourism sector in India's Punjab apprehensive of missing out on lucrative business due to diplomatic tension between India & Canada. NRIs from Canada visit native places to celebrate festivals & attend weddings. Tension has caused panic among travellers & affected business. People from hospitality & allied sectors fear losses due to visa suspension & tension. Canada is a major resource market for India & fall in visitors will impact business. Cancellations & postponements of events already seen.

Amid the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, there are apprehensions of a downtrend in the hospitality sector in Punjab, which draws many Non-Resident Indians (NRI) on visits to their home country between October and January every year for the lucrative festivals and weddings season. The Punjabi diaspora has a strong presence in several countries, including and significantly, Canada, apart from the U.K., Australia, and the U.S.

India has suspended visa services for Canadian travellers citing “operational reasons” in the face-off between the two nations over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan leader and a Canadian national. The suspension does not impact Canadians holding Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards and valid Indian visas.

Also read: Why have India, Canada tensions worsened? | Explained

“The face-off between India and Canada has instilled a sense of panic among travellers. People from Canada are hesitant to travel to India, and vice versa. This has started to affect our business,” Inderpal Singh, the joint owner of a leading hotel in Jalandhar, said.

“Between October and January every year, a good number of NRIs come to enjoy festivities. Many come to attend wedding ceremonies, and get married as well. However, I am now receiving calls from visitors who had reserved dates for marriage ceremonies but are asking to cancel their reservations as they are anxious about their relatives’ travel plans amid the unease between the two countries. For now, we have convinced them to wait for a few days but I’m sure that if the situation between India and Canada doesn’t improve, I will lose all the reservations,” Mr. Singh rued.

Satish Kumar Arora, president of the Punjab Hotel, Restaurant, and Resort Association, also expressed concern over impending losses. “Like every year, we were expecting a brisk business this season as well, but now it seems to be in the doldrums. NRIs come here to perform marriages in the traditional manner and spend lavishly on ceremonies, which bring in handsome business for the hospitality and allied sectors, including garments, jewellery, cabs-taxis etc. In Punjab, we have close to 12,000 registered wedding venues, including hotels and ‘marriage palaces’,” Mr. Arora said.

He said that for the last few years, Punjab has been witnessing an average of 3,500 bookings for marriage ceremonies by people who are settled outside the country, “and Canada is the key one”. “This year, for the upcoming season we have a little over 12,000 bookings for marriages. Of this, around 3,000 are by NRIs, but since the face-off started, a sense of panic has struck and several NRIs have been calling to either cancel or postpone the bookings. It’s a big setback. The sector was expecting to get back on its feet after COVID. We have had floods recently, too. If the [diplomatic] tension doesn’t ease, our business is bound to suffer,” Mr. Arora added.