(Agra) Foreign tourists authorized to return to India are eagerly awaited by the tourism industry, especially in Agra, city of the famous Taj Mahal, which only Indian visitors and a handful of foreign business travelers enjoy, for the time being. brave the fear of COVID-19 as well as intense pollution.
“Two days ago (Sunday), the pollution was so bad that I could not make out the Taj Mahal 10 m away,” Shaman, 51, one of the guardians of the World Heritage monument, told AFP. of UNESCO.
On Monday, the concentration of the most dangerous PM2.5 particulates reached 160 micrograms per cubic meter, according to government figures, the worst level of the season.
Tuesday in the dewy light of dawn, the Taj Mahal, overlooking the Yamuna River, remained slightly veiled, but perfectly visible to the delight of hundreds of Indian tourists and a few rare foreigners who came to contemplate it.
The air quality of the capital New Delhi and surrounding areas like Agra some 225 km to the south in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the majestic white marble mausoleum stands, deteriorates every winter, with quantities of fine particles which reach extremely dangerous levels.
” Opportunity not to miss “
“In Australia, we all know India can get a bit polluted and the air quality isn’t necessarily the best. But I never considered pollution as a reason not to come, ”Lachlan Mazzer, 33-year-old Australian told AFP, before entering the Taj Mahal.
“Pollution is not a problem,” insists the young man, with his arms covered with tattoos, taking advantage of a business trip to northern India to make a detour to Agra before his return to Australia, “I am very lucky to be here, couldn’t miss such an opportunity to see the seventh wonder [du monde]. “
Likewise, Rayaz Vrsi, 47 years old, from Tanzania with his wife, also took advantage of a business trip and would not have missed the visit of this monument because of the pollution: “it is to cut the breath ! “
Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, crowds flocked to admire this architectural masterpiece of Indo-Islamic art, built between 1631 and 1648, on the initiative of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to perpetuate the memory of his late favorite wife.
A universal symbol of eternal love and the country’s main tourist attraction, the monument remained closed from mid-April to June, during the second wave of coronavirus that violently hit the country in the spring.
“The hotel industry is suffering”
The building had already been closed for the first time in March 2020, at the start of the global pandemic, only to reopen in September.
Strict sanitary measures remain in use there. In particular, it is forbidden to touch the sparkling marble of the monument. However, the number of 650 visitors per day allowed is no longer limited at all, according to Nitin Singh, a 39-year-old tourist guide.
Confident in AFP that he “had not worked for two years”, he said he was “impatient to welcome foreign tourists” like all his colleagues. The Taj Mahal site hosted “20,000 every day” before the pandemic, he said.
“All the other businesses have started, all industries, everyone has started working again. But the hotel industry is still suffering a lot, ”he emphasizes.
After a twenty-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, India on Monday reopened its borders a little more to foreign tourists from countries with reciprocal agreements.
Tour operators, however, believe demand remains very low due to ticket prices and restrictions still in place for travelers from the European Union, UK, China and other countries.
The tourist guides, them, hope that the business will resume quickly “as before” the long shutdown having deprived of income all the sector, main economic engine of Agra.