Shimla: Himachal Pradesh is limping back to normalcy after incessant rain and floods this monsoon ravaged Kullu, Shimla and Mandi districts, causing landslides and damaging crops, hotels, houses, roads and highways.
The state is now making efforts to revive its main industry — the tourism sector, which contributes Rs 14,000 crore annually to the state GDP and took a severe hit on account of the rains.
In a video message released Thursday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu asserted that the state was ready to host tourists again. “Himachal Pradesh is ready and safe to host tourists. Roads have been thrown open for traffic,” he said.
According to state officials, the government is expecting an influx of tourists in the wake of the G20 Summit in New Delhi this weekend, as well as the annual week-long Kullu Dussehra festival, and is scheduling new events and publicising them for the same.
Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board vice-chairman Raghubir Singh Bali said the resumption of tourism activities would send the message that the state was ready to play host again.
“We need to regain the trust of tourists, and events such as paragliding, rafting and historical ones like the Kullu Dussehra festival (starting 24 October) will send a positive message. Such events will help in engaging tourists, too. We are publicising these events in a big way,” he explained.
Shimla Paragliding Festival, an international paragliding event, is being organised from 12 to 15 October in Junga, 25 km away from Shimla. Apart from that, the Asian Rafting Championship will be held in Shimla’s Pandoa village and Hamirpur’s Nadaun town by the end of this year, though the dates are yet to be finalised. A carnival in Kasol is scheduled for October and a winter carnival in Manali in January, Bali said.
Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi, too, said the rafting and paragliding events would boost the tourism industry.
“The idea behind hosting these events is to promote adventure sports and tourism activities. The state is making efforts to revive the tourism sector. We are creating a linkage among different stakeholders so that new destinations and activities add up in tourists’ diaries,” he added.
Himachal has, however, also been in the news for “overtourism”, especially in Shimla and the tourist hotspots of Dharamshala and Manali which have seen haphazard and unplanned infrastructure development, traffic congestion, lack of parking space and chaos. It is argued that the state may be paying the price of increasing tourism, especially in the monsoon.
According to Shimla-based travel consultant Visha Chauhan, tourism dynamics have changed in Himachal over the past 10 years due to overcrowding in the main cities and towns.
“Now tourists are preferring homestays and hotels in rural or unexplored areas over those in Shimla or any other destination. But there are no activities to engage them. If international-level events are organised, it would help advertise unexplored locations in the state,” she said.
Gaurav Chopra, a Mumbai-based financial adviser currently holidaying in the rural areas of Shimla, welcomed the government’s move to rev up the tourism sector.
“I booked a tour through a travel consultant based in Shimla. But we do not have too many things to do or places to visit or any other engagements apart from (looking at) nature. I read about the paragliding event on social media. The government, organisers and tourism stakeholders should sync plans so that travellers get something to do here,” he said over phone.
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‘Surge in tourism enquiries’
Himachal has around 4,500 hotels, 3,700 homestays with a total bed capacity of around 70,000, up to 1, 000 restaurants and over 4,000 travel agencies. More than 2 lakh people are employed directly in these establishments and the tourism sector employs 14 per cent of the total employed workforce in the state, according to government records.
A tourism department official told ThePrint that loss to the tourism sector due to rains and floods was estimated at around Rs 2,000 crore.
Basant Thakur, a travel consultant based in Kullu, expressed hope that tourists would throng to the state during Dussehra.
“The floods devastated several parts of Himachal Pradesh, and those involved in the tourism sector were among the victims. We are hopeful that tourists will throng here in Dussehra season,” he said.
Shimla Hotels and Tourism Stakeholders Association president Mohinder Seth echoed the other government officials saying that the G20 rush and tourism events will help the industry heal its wounds.
“Since Delhi has a lot of restrictions due to the G20 Summit, we have been getting more tourism enquiries. As far as paragliding and rafting events are concerned, we can encash on them,” he said, adding that “occupancy rates are around 30 per cent currently in Shimla hotels”.
Arun Rawat, a member of Federation of Himachal Hotels and Restaurant Associations who is involved in the paragliding festival, had high hopes from adventure tourism.
“Such activities have scope in the state. If such events are hosted regularly, it would convince tourists to overstay. If we want to prolong the stay of tourists in Shimla and nearby, we have to offer engagements and these are the ones in the offing,” he told ThePrint.
Hope in Kullu but ‘roads need to be repaired first’
The July-August rains caused massive devastation in Kullu district, especially Manali town where roads along the Beas River were washed away.
In high demand, Manali has more than 2,500 registered hotels and homestays but almost nil occupancy rates as of now, according to Manali Hotel Association president Mahesh Thakur.
Ratna, a Jaipur tourist holidaying in the district, told ThePrint over phone: “I asked a travel agent to book a tour to Manali, but he was reluctant. Citing bad roads, he advised me not to go. However, things are not that bad. The government needs to dispel the rumours.”
Regarding the state of roads in the region, a government official said reviving the tourism sector was a challenge in Manali “as a major road was completely broken”.
“As soon as it gets repaired, the sector will benefit. The delay will affect the stakeholders,” he added.
Thakur, meanwhile, pointed out that work to repair roads was going on at a slow pace. “Roads need to be repaired soon. Until Volvo buses or other commercial vehicles reach Manali, the tourism sector will not be boosted,” he said.
He pointed out that the tourism sector was earlier affected during the Covid pandemic and now the floods had worsened the situation. “We have salaries to pay and loans to repay. The government has lined up some events in Kullu district but roads need to be repaired first.”
According to a senior Public Works Department official, the state government has set the deadline of 15 September to repair roads. “We will repair most of the roads by then. As for Manali, the National Highways Authority of India has to act on it and the government has taken up the matter with the NHAI,” he added.
A tourism department official told ThePrint that Alliance Air flight services from Delhi to Shimla and further from Shimla to Dharamshala had resumed at discounted fares of Rs 3,000.
Himachal Road Transport Corporation, too, is chalking out a plan to operate buses from Kullu and Patlikuhal (village in the district), a corporation official said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)