Frequent Disasters In Himachal Pradesh Turn Tourists Away; Those Depending On Tourism Industry Stare At Uncertain Future

The frequent disasters in Himachal Pradesh like cloudbursts, landslides, flash floods have broken the back of the tourism industry. Thousands of people depend on tourism as their means of sustenance in the state. Tourists are afraid to come to the mountains due to the devastations caused by the heavy rains during monsoon months. The occupancy in the hotels of the state has reduced to two to three percent, which used to be 30 to 40 percent during rainy season.

Tourists not coming despite 50 pc discount offered by hotel owners

Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) and private hotel owners are giving up to 50 percent discount. Still the tourists are shying away from coming to the mountains. There is silence in popular tourist places like Shimla, Narkanda, Manali, Dalhousie, Chamba, Dharamshala, Mcleodganj, Kasaul, Kheerganga, Kasauli etc. for a month.

Hotel owners unable to pay salary to staff

Manali Hotel Association President Anup Thakur said that the disasters have caused loss of crores of rupees to tourism industry. It is very difficult to recover from this. The situation is similar to the one witnessed during Corona pandemic. Out of 100 rooms, hardly one or two rooms are occupied. Due to this it has become difficult to pay even the salary of the employees.

Tourists not coming even on weekends

President of Dalhousie Hotel Association, Narendra Puri said that there is three to four per cent occupancy left in the area. He told that tourism has suffered a lot due to the rains. Now it is not expected to be back to normal till October. Owners of some restaurants and eateries in Kufri said tourists are not coming even on weekends.

Normally 30 to 40% occupancy in hotels during rainy season

Himachal's tourism industry directly and indirectly provides livelihood to about four lakh families. Thousands of people work as tourist guides or run hotels, dhabas, restaurants, as well as horses, taxis at these tourist places. Their business has come to a complete standstill. Normally, the occupancy in hotels used to be 30 to 40 percent during rainy season. However, this time soon after the start of rainy season the tourist arrival dipped alarmingly. The news of landslides, cloudbursts have a negative impact on the psyche of potential visitors.

Highways built by NHAI are blocked repeatedly during rains 

Sohan Thakur, director of Highlander Home Stay in Chiyog, blamed NHAI for this. He said that 80 per cent tourists for Himachal come via Kalka-Shimla and Chandigarh-Manali fourlane. However, both these highways have been built by NHAI by cutting them at a slope of 90 degrees, due to which the roads get closed repeatedly during the rainy season every year. Therefore, tourists avoid coming to Himachal.

Taxi drivers unable to pay installments

Many taxi drivers of Shimla said that the taxi business has become down to zero. In the tourist season, they used to earn 2-3000 daily. But during the last one month, most of them could not earn even three thousand in the whole month. Many of them are finding it difficult to even pay the installments of the loan taken for the taxi.