Agra: After a gap of two years, due to Covid-19, the 10-day long annual cultural extravaganza, Taj Mahotsav, was ritualistically opened last week at the Shilpgram complex near the Taj Mahal.

Originally started as a tourism promotion exercise, the Mahotsava has not yet been able to attract foreign and domestic tourists, for whom the fair was planned.

The local tourism industry, too, is hardly excited or involved as a stakeholder. Hospitality industry captains feel, the Taj Mahotsav is more a fair or tamasha for the local people and has few attractions for the tourists who are already hard-pressed for time.

The fair was opened a week ago by Durga Shankar Mishra, chief secretary of, the UP government. The Mahotsav is usually held from February 18 to 28. But this year, due to the elections and the Covid protocol, it had to be postponed by a month. The annual board and university examinations have affected attendance. The unusually warm weather has also proved a dampener, say the stall owners at the sprawling Shilpgram complex, 500 metres from the Taj Mahal.

Programmes are also being held at the Soor Sadan auditorium. Late evening events featuring popular singers, comedians and actors are drawing hordes of people, but the response to classical dances or recitals has so far remained lukewarm. The stall owners hoped that in the coming days, their sales would pick up so that the expenses would at least be met.

Starting in 1992, the Taj Mahotsav, organised by UP Tourism and the industries department, was planned to showcase the Mughal and Braj culture to the visiting tourists, and thereby promote tourism, but results tell a different story.