Less people and longer stays: Bengaluru gets ready for a new New Year

In response to the fear of an increase in Covid cases, a number of major hotel chains in Bengaluru have changed their approach and elected to exclusively offer intimate New Year dinners rather than club party nights. While some bars in the city have chosen to hold limited-ticket New Year parties in order to control crowds, others have gone the other way. While some have chosen to spend New Year’s Eve in the city, others have chosen to leave Bengaluru. Travel firms have seen an increase in online reservations for buses and other forms of transportation to destinations like Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru.

This year’s classic New Year’s party will take a more private approach, with dinner and just two DJs outside the buffet venue, as opposed to previous events with DJs and nightclubs that catered to large crowds of party animals, a human resources executive from Taj Hotels told TNIE.

The hotel chain has prioritized safety by separating guests based on their tickets in response to an increase in COVID-19 instances. Three different hotel restaurants will hold the dinner celebrations at the same time. The goal of the whole adjustment is to reduce gathering in one location.

The executive stated that even though the party goes until midnight, the main goal is to follow regulations that forbid big parties while still giving visitors a warm and welcoming experience. Although hotel chains all over the city have chosen to carry on with these plans, “we have been receiving multiple calls from guests inquiring about why the ticket prices remain unchanged, despite the hotel only offering dinner and no nightclub arrangements,” the executive continued. A few others are also wondering whether the celebration would still go forward in the event that the number of Covid cases rises since the Rs 8,000–11,000 tickets are non-refundable.

The majority of hotels have changed their plans, but the city’s pubs will still host their customary New Year’s celebrations with nightlife, but bookings are still required. According to Santhosh H, manager of an expensive bar in Koramangala, “Even though ticket prices remain the same, there is restricted registration, with fewer reservations being given as compared to last year, to prevent large gatherings.”

A travel consultant from Greenline Travels said that online travel and staycation registrations for getaways like Nandi Hills, Kodagu, and Chikkamagaluru are completely booked, with the majority of the bookings made two months ahead of the New Year, which occurs around a weekend. No cancellations have been made so far. According to him, many purchased tickets with the idea that even in the event of a spike in cases, Covid limitations would be implemented later since these locations are tiny.

On Wednesday, Karnataka reported 103 new instances of COVID-19, including one fatality (a 53-year-old male in Mysuru). There are now 479 ongoing cases in the state overall. There are 422 in home isolation, 38 in normal beds, and 19 in the intensive care unit. As a result of the health department’s increased testing efforts, 7,262 tests have been performed, yielding a 1.41 percent positive rate for the state.

BMTC will run more buses on December 31.
To enhance commuter convenience on New Year’s Eve, BMTC will run extra buses from MG Road and Brigade Road to various locations inside the city, starting at 11 pm on December 31, 2023, and ending at 2 am on January 1, 2024. From Brigade Road and MG Road, the additional buses will run to the Kadugodi Bus Station on HAL Road and Hoodi Road, Sarjapur, Electronics City (Hosur Road), Bannerghatta National Park, Kengeri KHB Quarters, Janapriya Township (Magadi Road), Nelamangala, Yelahanka 5th Stage, RK Hegde Nagar, Bagalur (Hennur Road), Hoskote. In addition to the extra bus services that operate from Brigade Road and MG Road, BMTC may offer complementary bus services on December 31 from other bus stations, such as Yelahanka, Indiranagar, Koramangala, Shanthinagar, Banashankari, Sumanahalli, Goraguntepalya, Kadugodi, Nagasandra, Hebbal, and Central Silk Board, in the context of the New Year.