Jaisalmer: The tourism industry in the region is facing fresh uncertainties ahead of the winter season after airlines decided to drop key routes and suspend weekend flight operations, raising fears of a sharp fall in arrivals.Flights from Jaisalmer Airport are scheduled to resume after the yearly six-month break on Oct 26, with three services to Delhi and two to Mumbai every day. There will, however, be no flights on Saturdays and Sundays, the busiest window for tourists from major cities who usually arrive on Friday evening or Saturday morning before returning Sunday.The flight schedule for Jaisalmer airport this tourist season also leaves out Jaipur and Bengaluru, despite carriers operating packed flights to and from both these cities last year. Flights to Ahmedabad were already discontinued two years ago.Jitendra Singh Rathore, a local tour operator, said the Bengaluru-Jaisalmer flight introduced last winter had received an overwhelming response, with almost no seats remaining vacant throughout the season.Industry insiders fear air connectivity gaps could end up severely hurting hotels, tour operators, taxi services, guides, handicraft workers and folk artists – all of whom depend heavily on seasonal tourist traffic.Tour operator Vimal Gopa said the decision to leave Jaipur and Bengaluru out was difficult to understand as the Golden City’s tourism economy depends heavily on weekend travel.Echoing similar sentiments, hotelier Mayank Bhatia said southern cities in general had emerged as important source markets for Jaisalmer, and leaving out a direct connection to Bengaluru was inexplicable, given the tourist volumes it had generated in the past year.Jaisalmer MLA Chhotu Singh Bhati has written to the Union civil aviation minister, the chief minister and the state’s civil aviation minister, urging flight operations that include regular weekend services, restoration of direct links with cities such as Bengaluru and Ahmedabad and support for charter flights.
