With the Himachal government imposing night curfew in four districts of the state from Tuesday to contain spread of Covid-19, the hoteliers said the decision will destroy tourism completely which was slowly coming back on track after the lockdown. Four districts of Himachal -- Kullu, Shimla, Kangra and Mandi – will observe a complete curfew from Tuesday to December 15. No vehicle other than those engaged in emergency and essential supplies will be allowed on roads between 8pm and 6am. Hoteliers said the tourism was coming back on track after a long time but this curfew will create panic among visitors who have planned to visit the state. Manali and some other tourist destinations of Himachal are reachable from Delhi after a travel time of over 14 hours. In such a condition, 10 hours’ night curfew will stop them from reaching their destination. Hoteliers said the government should give relaxation to the tourists otherwise it will be a nightmare for those who are already in transit and those who have already booked their flights and other conveyance that will not match the curfew timing. They said snowfall was attracting tourists to the state but curfew in the main tourism districts of Himachal will adversely affect tourism. A hotelier Anil Sharma said, “Be it towns or villages, Himachal wears deserted look in the nighttime in winter months when people mostly remain indoors. The government should impose a ban on functions to avoid public gatherings which is the main reason for the spike in Covid-19 cases in Himachal." "There should be some strict restrictions on marriages and other parties. We will welcome the decision to fine tourists heavily for disobeying protocols to contain Covid-19 but night curfew is not the solution but it will harm the tourism which has already suffered huge
With the Himachal government imposing night curfew in four districts of the state from Tuesday to contain spread of Covid-19, the hoteliers said the decision will destroy tourism completely which was slowly coming back on track after the lockdown. Four districts of Himachal — Kullu, Shimla, Kangra and Mandi – will observe a complete curfew
A day after tourist resorts of Shimla and Manali received season’s first snow, tourists from neighbouring states have made a beeline for Himachal to enjoy the snow. Tourists thronged Solang, Kufri and other tourist places which received a good amount of snow on Monday. After three days of inclement weather, it was sunny day on Tuesday. Tourist places were witnessing crowd from the early morning till late evening. Most of the tourists are from Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. A tourist from Delhi Jatin Ahuja said, “We headed to Manali after hearing about snowfall on Monday morning. I and my wife wanted to see snowfall but we were a little late. However, we enjoyed in snow near Manali. Covid-19 being the main hurdle, we preferred driving our own car. The weather on Tuesday was amazing and we spent almost half day at Solang. We wanted to visit Atal tunnel but the road was blocked,” he said. Tourists were not being allowed to go to the higher regions as most of the roads have become slippery. Many tourists attempted to go towards Atal tunnel but could not reach due to icing of the road surface. Buses plying on Manali-Keylong route had to return back from south portal of the tunnel where road was extremely slippery. The highway even saw traffic jam for some time. Shimla also saw good number of tourists coming from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Tuesday. Tourists headed to the upper Shimla to see snow. Dalhousie and Dharamshala are also expecting little rise in footfall in the next few days. Suffering huge losses since March due to Covid-19, hoteliers are expecting little surge in tourist inflow following the snowfall. “This year has been a black year for all businesses but tourism industry is worse affected. Tourists are
A day after tourist resorts of Shimla and Manali received season’s first snow, tourists from neighbouring states have made a beeline for Himachal to enjoy the snow. Tourists thronged Solang, Kufri and other tourist places which received a good amount of snow on Monday. After three days of inclement weather, it was sunny day on
While Himachal government has opened its border to tourists without need of e-pass or any formality, the residents of Spiti valley, including tourism stakeholders, have decided not to host tourists this year as they believe handling of Covid-19 patients during harsh winters of valley will be near to impossible. The decision to remain shut was taken by Spiti Tourism Society after meeting of hoteliers, homestay owners, tourist guides, taxi drivers, panchayat representatives, beopar mandal, mahila mandal, yuvak mandal and Commitee for Preventive Measures and Sustainable Development (CPMSD), a committee which is formed by the residents to fight Covid-19. It was decided in the meeting that all tourism activities including jeep safari, trekking, camping and package tours shall remain closed in 2020. However, it was also decided that no tourist will be allowed to enter the Spiti valley till October 31 and they will decide on future course after holding another meeting. For now, the tourism stakeholders were asked not to accept booking until next year. Sonam Targe, member of Spiti Tourism Society said, this tough decision was taken considering the consequences of the pandemic that it can have on high altitude region of Spiti which has limited medical facilities, underdeveloped infrastructure and extreme geographical conditions with harsh winters. “Winter season is setting in and Spiti will be more vulnerable as people in medical need will need to be taken outside the Spiti for treatment amid limited connectivity. We have managed to keep the disease out of the valley. Residents here are dependent on tourism for livelihood but they are sacrificing everything to protect themselves. We have requested tourists to postpone their travel plans to next season when the Spiti valley will be safest destination to travel,” he said. Spiti residents have been in controversy for taking strict decisions to keep
While Himachal government has opened its border to tourists without need of e-pass or any formality, the residents of Spiti valley, including tourism stakeholders, have decided not to host tourists this year as they believe handling of Covid-19 patients during harsh winters of valley will be near to impossible. The decision to remain shut was
The tourists from any part of India may enjoy their trip to Manali very soon as hoteliers have decided to open hotels for tourists from October 1. Hotels in Manali, the main tourist destination of Himachal, will open from October 1 as most of the hoteliers on Tuesday unanimously decided to resume operation to recover from the damage of the Covid-19 impact, an official of the hoteliers' body of Manali said. Having known that recovery from Covid-19 pandemic may take more than expected time, the hoteliers said they cannot afford to stay closed anymore. However, they are not in a hurry and do not want to take risks and decided that they will remain closed in September to get themselves ready to welcome tourists in October. Not just hotels, the guesthouses and homestay units will make necessary arrangements for resuming operations in October. “After remaining closed for over five months since March 22, hoteliers unanimously decided in the meeting that we shall open from October 1, a day before Gandhi Jayanti. Till then, we shall make all the arrangements and preparations to provide tourists with high standards of hygiene and sanitisation and also to recruit the staff,” Manali Hoteliers’ Association president Anup Ram Thakur said. It was also decided that if any hotel wishes to remain closed even after October, nobody will force hoteliers to open. Thousands of staff members working in hotels had temporarily or permanently lost their jobs in March and April. Finding and recruiting both skilled and unskilled staff in a few days was not easy. Thakur added that hoteliers will have to face some challenges to continue with smooth operations like protecting the staff and the local community from Covid-19 and to handle patients, if found any, as Manali does not have even a dedicated covid
The tourists from any part of India may enjoy their trip to Manali very soon as hoteliers have decided to open hotels for tourists from October 1. Hotels in Manali, the main tourist destination of Himachal, will open from October 1 as most of the hoteliers on Tuesday unanimously decided to resume operation to recover
No raft is floating on the rivers, skies have no paragliders, the rugged terrains are missing the ATVs, challenging Himalayan trails have no hikers and nobody is skiing down the backcountry slopes in Himachal. With tourism around the world coming to a standstill, the adventure tourism industry of the state has also been hit hard, leaving thousands jobless. Not just the hoteliers, thousands of people operating adventure tourism have been left jobless by the Covid-19. Himachal has emerged as a top adventure tourism hub of the world where adventure enthusiasts from around the world come for all kind of activities. Paragliding, rafting, mountaineering, skiing, heli-skiing, ATV rides and almost every adventure activity is available in the state. As tourism is expected to take many more months to come back on the track, thousands of adventure activity operators are worrying for their future. “All the industries have been hit by the Covid-19 but tourism industry has suffered the most. The agriculture, horticulture, construction, trades and all industries are returning to normalcy one by one. But the tourism will take a long time to resume. All the adventure activities too have come to a grinding halt. Thousands have lost their jobs. Now everybody is looking at government for relief,” Adventure Tour Operators Association president Roshan Lal said. Adventure tourism in Himachal has become a multi-crore industry that runs almost round the year except for monsoon season. It has become one of the largest employers in the state. May and June are the peak season when lakhs of tourists try hand at various activities in the state especially in Kullu, Shimla, Kangra and Chamba districts. The state has all the activities except for bungee jumping. The government was to start setting up world’s highest bungee jumping near Marhi at altitude of about 11,000ft
No raft is floating on the rivers, skies have no paragliders, the rugged terrains are missing the ATVs, challenging Himalayan trails have no hikers and nobody is skiing down the backcountry slopes in Himachal. With tourism around the world coming to a standstill, the adventure tourism industry of the state has also been hit hard,
With Rohtang pass officially opened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday after a gap of five months, 52 vehicles carrying 293 people crossed over to Lahaul valley from Kullu. All the passengers were farmers who wanted to reach home for farming activities. With the first batch of vehicles entering the valley, Lahaul, which was cut off from rest of the country since mid-November, has reconnected by road. Hundreds of farmers who have stuck in Kullu and other parts of the state have been permitted to enter Lahaul-Spiti district where sowing season has started. Before this, 98 farmers had entered the valley on Saturday after walking for 3km across the Rohtang as snow clearing work on this stretch was continuing. The people are undergoing medical check-up before and after traversing Rohtang pass. Five farmers, who were found medically unfit, were sent back to Kullu on Saturday. The labourers and non-residents are not being allowed to enter the valley. The vehicles from Kullu were allowed to go till Rohtang pass from where passengers were shifted to other vehicles that came from Lahaul. The Young Drukpa Association (YDA) of Lahaul is sanitizing all the vehicles at Koksar that are bringing passengers from Rohtang pass. The association president Sonam Jangpo said they don’t want to take any risk. “Kullu is safe zone with no Covid-19 case so far. Still, we can’t take it lightly. All the vehicles entering the valley with passengers from Kullu are being sanitized at Koksar, the first village of the valley.” According to officials, an incident of the avalanche was reported between Rahni nullah and Marhi on Tuesday and it took over one hour to clear the debris. The freshly opened road with high walls of snow on both sides is still dangerous for vehicular movement. The Border Roads Organization (BRO) has stationed its machinery at Rohtang to deal with any situation. BRO has to keep clearing
With Rohtang pass officially opened for vehicular traffic on Tuesday after a gap of five months, 52 vehicles carrying 293 people crossed over to Lahaul valley from Kullu. All the passengers were farmers who wanted to reach home for farming activities. With the first batch of vehicles entering the valley, Lahaul, which was cut off from rest of the
Heavy snowfall in parts of Kullu-Manali, Lahaul-Spiti and Mandi districts left traffic interrupted in many major roads while nearly 200 tourists stranded near Manali on Thursday. Hundreds of tourists had reached Gulaba and Kothi to see snowfall on Thursday morning. As it was snowing fast, tourists were asked to descend down to Kothi. Ignoring warning, many tourists stayed below Gulaba. Some tourists walked along the highway towards Gulaba. Later vehicles started slipping on the road and they got stranded. After getting news about tourists getting stranded, local administration, police and rescue volunteers rushed to Gulaba to carry out relief operation. All tourists were brought back to Manali by late evening. Manali sub-divisional magistrate Raman Gharsangi said tourists were not allowed to go beyond Gulaba on Thursday but some tourists were reported to have stranded below Gulaba. “The road had become very slippery. The tourists were brought to safe place with help of police, taxi union and other volunteers. Situation is under control,” he said. Solang valley and Kothi near Manali have experienced season’s first snowfall. Both places have received nearly 10cm of snow. Entire Lahaul valley is also covered with a thin layer of white blanket. Jalori pass in Kullu district that connects Anni and Nirmand sub-divisions with the headquarters has also witnessed season’s first snowfall, blocking the highway. Manali-Rohtang-Keylong highway has again closed after heavy snowfall. Rohtang pass has received over 60cm of fresh snow. Over 75cm of snow on Baralacha pass has blocked Keylong-Sarchu road as well. Heavy snowfall on Kunzum pass has blocked Gramphoo-Kaza road. The high hills of Mandi district including Shikari hills have also received snow. The temperature in the state has dipped sharply after snowfall and rains. The minimum temperature of Keylong has dipped to minus 0.6 degree Celsius. Temperature of Manali (3.6), Shimla
Heavy snowfall in parts of Kullu-Manali, Lahaul-Spiti and Mandi districts left traffic interrupted in many major roads while nearly 200 tourists stranded near Manali on Thursday. Hundreds of tourists had reached Gulaba and Kothi to see snowfall on Thursday morning. As it was snowing fast, tourists were asked to descend down to Kothi. Ignoring warning,
The World Tourism Day 2019 was celebrated across Himachal Pradesh by welcoming tourists at bus stations, airports and hotels by offering them flower garlands, bouquets, Himachali caps and mufflers. The tourists were taken for a surprise after they received such unexpected welcome everywhere. Private hotels also welcomed tourists in traditional style. Special cultural programmes ere organized in the hotels. Some hotels even offered special discount on room tariff. This year the theme of the World Tourism Day is “Tourism and jobs: a better future for all” and India is a hosting country. As chief minister Jai Ram Thakur could not attend the seminar on WTD in Delhi, forest and transport minister Govind Singh Thakur represented Himachal. The CM attended Himachal Apple Festival – 2019 at Gaiety Theatre in Shimla. The festival is organized jointly by tourism and horticulture departments. The CM said that on the occasion of World Tourism Day, the tourism department has adopted “Himachal Apple Festival” as theme which shows the importance of apple in the economy of the state. He said apple cultivation and apple orchards could prove an added attraction to tourists visiting the state. “The horticulturists of Himachal are adopting latest technologies which are proving a boon to them as they are getting good prices for their produce. The apple growers should also go for latest varieties of apple to compete with the apple coming from other parts of the country and abroad,” he said. The CM crowned Shivankita Kanwar as Apple Prince, Deepanshi Thakur as Apple Princess, Yogesh as Apple King and Vanshika Katoch as Apple Queen on this occasion. He then cut a biggest apple cake, measuring 4.5ftX3.5ft and weighing over 200kg, prepared by tourism department alongwith Institute of Hotel Management, Catering and Nutrition, Kufri. The cake has entered into the India Book
The World Tourism Day 2019 was celebrated across Himachal Pradesh by welcoming tourists at bus stations, airports and hotels by offering them flower garlands, bouquets, Himachali caps and mufflers. The tourists were taken for a surprise after they received such unexpected welcome everywhere. Private hotels also welcomed tourists in traditional style. Special cultural programmes ere
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill stations. A meeting was held at the regional centre of the institute at Kullu on Friday where scientists, officials from different departments and NGOs working in environment protection took part. Concerned for the balance between environment, development and growing tourism, the scientists and officials discussed on various environment related issues. “The burning issues like environmental balance and security of interests of local people are coming to light while developing tourism industry in the hill stations. It requires a large, long-term and holistic policy. This was the reason behind organizing this consultation meeting so that a practical policy could be framed with help from all the departments,” scientist from the institute RK Singh said. The hills stations of the country, especially in the hills stations, get crowded during summer season. The crowd not only leaves behind tonnes of trash but also put extra pressure on the available resources like water, roads and electricity. Increase in traffic leads to air and sound pollution. The vehicles leave the roads jammed for hours. No agency has so far studied the safe carrying capacity of hill stations. The scientists from the government institute will be studying it for the first time. Scientist Vaibhav Eknath Gosavi, Dr Lipika Sharma, Dr Abhay Sharma and Dr Shiv Pal described how environment related problems and conflicts between different sections are natural during growth of the tourism industry in mountainous regions. “The institute is studying deeply to prepare the guidelines for carrying capacity. Detailed discussion
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill
With end of June, the tourist footfall in Kullu-Manali has started to decrease as summer vacations in most schools have ended and monsoon has arrived in many parts of the country. The hoteliers say its safe to visit Kullu-Manali in monsoon season as the highway has mostly widened and this is the best time to visit as hotels are easily available at reasonable tariff. They said enough snow is available at Rohtang pass and taxis are easily available for a discounted fare. The peak summer tourist season in Himachal has come to an end. The tourist footfall has dropped by nearly 50 per cent in a week. The hotel occupancy which was nearly 100 per cent last week has plunged below 50 percent. The hotel occupancy is expected to drop to less than 25 per cent in a week as monsoon showers are likely to bring respite from the heat in plains. “We saw peak tourism season for less than 20 days in June when all hoteliers did good business. With beginning of July, tourists start avoiding hill stations. July and August are the leanest business months,” a hotelier Ramesh Thakur said. Most hotels are giving huge discounts on room tariff to attract more tourists in off-season. The parking and traffic jam problem has finished here. The taxi rent too has suddenly dropped as cabbies are not getting passengers easily. Most of the hoteliers say this was the worst summer season for them as they did not see 100 per cent occupancy in June which is rare for them. They blamed long traffic jams, inadequate parking, unavailability of permit for vehicle to go to Rohtang pass and extremely high taxi fare for this. Most tourists had bad experience as they had to spend all nights in long traffic jams between
With end of June, the tourist footfall in Kullu-Manali has started to decrease as summer vacations in most schools have ended and monsoon has arrived in many parts of the country. The hoteliers say its safe to visit Kullu-Manali in monsoon season as the highway has mostly widened and this is the best time to
