Lakes are drying up in India's northwestern Rajasthan state, and that has impacted the region's tourism industry. Very low rainfall over the past two years has decimated lake based activities that normally bring tourists from near and far.

Tourism is slowly drying up along with the five famous lakes in India’s northwest city of Udaipur.

Udaipur, is widely known as the "City of Lakes," but a lack of rainfall over the past two years has resulted in them drying up, pushing tourist numbers way down.

[Sunita, Tourist from New Delhi]: (Hindi female)
"Each year we go to a hill station for summer vacations but this time we decided to go to a different place, so we came to Udaipur to enjoy boating in (the) lakes. But all the lakes in the city have dried up. There is no water left in the lakes and no tourists can be seen."

Almost 40 percent of the total population of the city is directly or indirectly associated with tourism.

[Yashwant, Hotel Owner]: (Hindi) male:
"Boating is not possible in Pichola Lake and Fateh Sagar Lake. Udaipur is known as the City of Lakes but the lakes are not there any more."

Small shopkeepers, jewelery and handbag vendors, tourist guides, porters, camel owners, taxi operators, and hotel owners are all facing the crunch.

The city welcomes nearly 700,000 domestic and foreign tourists each year, but this summer, Udaipur bears a deserted look.