Delhi hotel body says no Chinese national will be given accommodation

The Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association on Thursday announced that Chinese nationals would no longer be provided accommodation in over 3,000 hotels and guest houses across the city.

Said association president Sandeep Khandelwal, “The Chinese are not the world, we can survive without them as well. We are all law-abiding citizens and no one will take law in their hands, but this would make the Chinese worried. War and trade cannot happen at the same time.”

Khandelwal added that the association would also try to get five-star hotels on board with this decision. While a majority of hotels have agreed with the decision, no one will be forced to follow it.

This comes at a time when the hospitality industry is already reeling under heavy losses due to lack of tourism and closure of hotels in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown.

Khandelwal admitted that several hotel owners are undergoing extreme stress as they are unable to pay pending bills, loans and rent, and the latest decision might not prove to be feasible in the long run.

“All things depend upon government policy and relation in between the countries,” he said. While the decision is limited to Delhi as of now, the hotels’ association would engage and try to rope in their counterparts in other states as well, he added.

Earlier, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), had taken a decision to boycott Chinese products. CAIT’s national secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said the trade body would welcome anyone who wishes to join its campaign of boycotting Chinese products.

Twenty soldiers belonging to the Indian Army were reportedly killed in the Galwan clashes along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) this month.