MANALI: Be it Kufri, Narkanda, Solang or any skiing slope of Himachal, none of them have snow-making machine like ski slopes of developed nations. Despite high demand from skiers, government has failed to buy a single such machine to ensure availability of snow on slopes whenever needed. But, four youth from Manali villages have imported a snow-making machine from Europe which will start making snow in next few days. Sunil Thakur, Hira Lal, Mohan and Gokul Thakur, all from villages near Manali, spent more than Rs 30 lakh to bring this machine to Solang village of Manali. What motivated them to introduce this machine to Manali was the uncertainty of snowfall on Himalayas even during winter months and thousands of tourists thronging hill stations only to see snow. They are installing the machine on a private land, not on the skiing slope. “Our basic idea is to make a snow park in Manali where tourist can see snow throughout winter season. The installation is on final stage. We have a small glitch with water hose coupling. The machine has coupling with European standards and ours is of Indian standards. We are fixing the problem. Hopefully we shall start making snow with seven quintal machine in 3-4 days,” Sunil said. The ski slopes of Solang are on government land and majority of its part is leased out to a private company where individuals cannot do such experiment. So, the youth chose the private land near the slope. Hira Lal, who has participated in Winter Olympics and World Skiing Championships, had seen such machines abroad and wanted to bring one to India. He partnered with three others and turned the dream into reality. Roshan Lal Thakur, former secretary general of Witner Games Fedration of India, also helped them in bringing machine to
MANALI: Be it Kufri, Narkanda, Solang or any skiing slope of Himachal, none of them have snow-making machine like ski slopes of developed nations. Despite high demand from skiers, government has failed to buy a single such machine to ensure availability of snow on slopes whenever needed. But, four youth from Manali villages have imported
A seminar on “role of media in tourism development” was organized by Himachal Pradesh Journalist Union (HPJU) here today which was sponsored by Manali Hoteliers’ Association. Detailed discussion was held on various ways of promotion of tourism in Himachal Pradesh. It was decided that a vision document for development of tourism will be prepared based on this seminar. President of the HPJU and senior journalist Dr Shashi Bhooshan said that tourism is important for economic, social and cultural development of the society. He said tourism will help increase the income sources of the people of the state. Saying that tourists are able to see only those limited places in the state which were being visited 30-40 years ago, he expressed his concern over the development of the new and hidden places of the state. He added that state has a vast tourism potential if new places are explored and opened for tourists. Dr Shashi Bhooshan emphasized upon the development of temples, lakes, dresses, dishes and forts of the state. He said that on the line of Rohtang pass, ski slopes of Chanshal, Chuddhar, Srikhand, Kinner Kailash and Muraldanda should be developed. He further added that media should play its vital role in reaching out to the people to promote these places and increase the tourism in the state. Anup Thakur, president, Manali Hoteliers’ Association, who was the chief guest of the seminar, said that moral duty of the hoteliers was not limited to construction of hotels and restaurants, but they should contribute towards development of that area. Thakur said that organizing this seminar was important for the development of the tourism. He said local residents can benefit from tourism directly if they offer better services to the tourists. Saying that media put direct impact on the tourism, therefore media should
A seminar on “role of media in tourism development” was organized by Himachal Pradesh Journalist Union (HPJU) here today which was sponsored by Manali Hoteliers’ Association. Detailed discussion was held on various ways of promotion of tourism in Himachal Pradesh. It was decided that a vision document for development of tourism will be prepared based
Tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh may soon get a world class eco-friendly tourist destination as Hamta in Kullu valley which is close to open for tourists in few months. A team of officials from tourism and civil aviation, administration, forest department and local stakeholders led by Manali sub-divisional magistrate Vinay Dhiman visited Hamta to check its feasibility as a tourist destination on Thursday. According to sources, the team found everything right and Hamta may open for tourists after inauguration by chief minister during Winter Carnival in January 2014. The main challenge for safe conduct of the tourism activity in Hamta is approach road to Hamta from Manali with more than 40 hairpin bends and large gradients at some points. The team found that road was worth taking the load of tourist crowd. Road to Hamta is under jurisdiction of Allain Duhangan Hydropower Ltd (ADHPL) which has commissioned its 192 MW hydropower projects here. Dhiman said that plan is to promote Hamta has an eco-friendly tourist destination and a sub-committee will be formed to prepare a detailed report on Hamta. He said, “The committee will forward its report to ADHPL authority for final approval. We checked the various aspects like safety, security and conservation of environment. The number of vehicles and tourists will be restricted to Hamta to conserve the natural resources here.” He said ADHPL authority will be requested to co-operate with them in promotion of the new tourist destination. Hamta is famous for least seen exotic and beautiful locations along with ski slopes, religious sites, old trekking trails and wildlife. Dhiman said that joint inspection of Hamta has brought positive results and now they were looking forward for co-operation from ADHPL. “If Hamta opens for tourists, it will also decongest Rohtang pass by drawing traffic.”
Tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh may soon get a world class eco-friendly tourist destination as Hamta in Kullu valley which is close to open for tourists in few months. A team of officials from tourism and civil aviation, administration, forest department and local stakeholders led by Manali sub-divisional magistrate Vinay Dhiman visited Hamta to check its
With thousands of tourists from West Bengal thronged Himachal Pradesh to enjoy their holidays, the hill state has turned mini-Bengal where every third tourist is Bengali. Density of Bengali tourists is going to increase even more in October when their beeline is expected towards Himachal following “puja vacations” in West Bengal. Kinnaur, Spiti, Manali and Shimla are the major places of interest for Bengali tourists where they have started thronging. Though tourists from neighbouring states like Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Delhi are also visiting Himachal to enjoy the pleasant weather here, but majority of tourists are from West Bengal. As they come to stay for long time period, their arrival has cheered the tourism industry of the state. Mostly Bengali tourists visit Himachal during onset of winters and in summer months of May and June. Kinnaur is emerging as the first choice of Bengali tourists where advance booking for October reveals that almost all hotels are going to be occupied fully after Navratra pujas. Popularity of towns of Kinnaur, Shimla and Manali among Bengali tourists has led to opening of many Bengali restaurants here. Most of the hotels in Kinnaur are on lease-purchase by Bengali people who are handling clients from their own state with their own traditions and styles. A Bengali man, Shyamal Debnath, who has purchased hotel Aucktong on lease in Kalpa village of Kinnaur, said tourists from his native place have started thronging. He said, “Large numbers of Bengali tourists are expected to visit Kinnaur next month which will turn this tribal district into mini-Bengal. 70% of the total tourists visiting Kinnaur are only from West Bengal, 20% are from abroad and only 10% are from other states of the country.” Kolkata being one the most crowded and noisy cities of the country, people from this metropolis
With thousands of tourists from West Bengal thronged Himachal Pradesh to enjoy their holidays, the hill state has turned mini-Bengal where every third tourist is Bengali. Density of Bengali tourists is going to increase even more in October when their beeline is expected towards Himachal following “puja vacations” in West Bengal. Kinnaur, Spiti, Manali and
A national level seminar on the theme of Energy Conservation in Hotel Industry was organized under collective efforts of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Germany and Manali Tourism Stakeholders' Association in Manali on Saturday. Regional director of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dilip Sharma said that conservation of energy is a need of hour and we need to save energy for our next generation. Talking about the hotel industry of Himachal, he said that hotels consume large portion of the energy in Himachal and 20 per cent expenses of the hotels are by unnecessarily use of water heaters, boilers, air conditioning systems, refrigeration, heaters, pumps and motors. “Use of solar energy is the best alternative that can bring down the expenses and also save the limited sources of energy,” he said. Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) deputy director SN Singh said that our country is spending billions of dollars on importing petroleum products from abroad which is severely impacting our economy. “Motive of this seminar is to spread a message that people should use energy but the most important thing is that how and when we should use energy to stop its unnecessary use.” Officials present in the seminar emphasized upon maximum use of solar energy. Manali sub-divisional magistrate Vinay Dhiman requested all the hoteliers to save energy wherever it is possible. He added that seminar is sending a positive message to the tourism industry to save energy and he said that more such seminars should be organized in future. Manali Tourism Stakeholders’ Association president Gajender Thakur thanked all the dignitaries from across the country to make this seminar a success. He also said that association will encourage hoteliers to use solar energy to save power and other energy sources. Officials from Oil and Natural
A national level seminar on the theme of Energy Conservation in Hotel Industry was organized under collective efforts of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Germany and Manali Tourism Stakeholders’ Association in Manali on Saturday. Regional director of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dilip Sharma said that conservation of energy is
Riots in Kishtwar have proved fatal for adventure tourism of Himachal along Manali-Kilaar-Kishtwar as most of the bike and jeep safari tours on this route have cancelled for the season. Taxi operators in Himachal are not ready to lend their cabs to tourists for any part of Jammu and Kashmir. Dhani Thakur from Himalyan Eagle Adventures said, “I cancelled my bike and jeep safari tour on Kilaar-Kishtwar-Jammu route as I don’t want to take any risk with lives of my clients.” Most of the travel agents are not accepting booking for this route for August month. Some years back it was presumed that this route has many flood prone areas which may block the least maintained road any time and it may take months for authorities to make it worth driving. Even today drivers charge almost double fare to accept booking for this road. “This route is paradise for adventure lovers but violence in Kishtwar has ruined the season. Some safari tours have diverted to Manali-Leh road while others have cancelled their plans,” said Suresh Sharma from Himachal Vacation Travels and Adventure who organizes safari tours on this route. According to him the entire length of the route is in good condition as the areas along road are receiving almost no rain. Even a query of hiring cab for Manali-Kishtwar route is sending shivers down the spines of drivers. “Even if somebody pays ten times more fare I will not go on this road. Residents of Kishtwar are putting vehicles on fire. I’m not ready to take the risk,” replies Ghanshyam Thakur, a Manali based taxi driver. After this route between Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir was gaining popularity, many local residents had erected dhabas and offering accommodation in Gulabgarh, Sol, Kilaar, Purthi, Shor and Tindi who are now suffering
Riots in Kishtwar have proved fatal for adventure tourism of Himachal along Manali-Kilaar-Kishtwar as most of the bike and jeep safari tours on this route have cancelled for the season. Taxi operators in Himachal are not ready to lend their cabs to tourists for any part of Jammu and Kashmir. Dhani Thakur from Himalyan Eagle
A foreigner tourist, out of excitement or under the influence of charas, goes for trekking on fascinating but dangerous mountains of Parvati valley in Kullu and loses his way back to the valley. Next day help is sought from Chhape Ram and his team, a renowned rescuer in the valley, and they recover his body from a gorge. Such stories have become common in Kullu. Parvati valley, famous for world class Malana cream, has become a haunted place where trekkers, mostly from abroad, are felling to death one after another. Reasons are unknown but in most of the cases bodies were found in places far away from the trekking trail. Experts say negligence and consumption of drugs were putting these trekkers in trouble. In many cases it was noticed that trekker was alone and trying to climb a mountain face with no path. “We found body of Czech national Petr Slanina at a place near Chhalal village where no path was leading. He might have deviated from the trail and tried to climb a dangerous hill with no existing path. He was alone and it was the biggest mistake that he did,” said Chhape Ram Negi of Negi’s Himalayan Adventure who is an authorized rescuer of Israeli nationals in India. “Charas and guts to go alone on mountains are the main enemies of foreign trekkers. They can spend thousands on charas but refuse to hire a local guide,” he added. Charas makes person fearless and kills his capability of understanding the situation. It was noticed that hotel and guest house owners in Manikaran and Kasol area were not guiding their guests properly. “Surprisingly most of the accidents happened in circumference of only 2-3km around Kasol village. They underestimated the mountains and lost their lives. If cold have lived if they
A foreigner tourist, out of excitement or under the influence of charas, goes for trekking on fascinating but dangerous mountains of Parvati valley in Kullu and loses his way back to the valley. Next day help is sought from Chhape Ram and his team, a renowned rescuer in the valley, and they recover his body
Problems of mangled tourism industry of Kullu-Manali seems not to be finishing soon as the industry which is already suffering slump is irritating high end tourists with no flight connectivity. Heavy to normal monsoon, cloudbursts, Rohtang pass environment issue, agitations by local traders and taxi operators have already bled the tourism here. Now suspension of flights has put Kullu-Manali tourism on back-foot. High end tourists are avoiding this beautiful hill station which is approachable only by 10-hour hectic road journey from Chandigarh and 15-hour journey from Delhi. Saying that landing on congested runways of Kullu and Shimla could be dangerous amid heavy fog and bad weather, Air India suspended its flights till mid September. Hoteliers and those who are associated with tourism industry feel cheated by government which had resumed flights to Kullu and Shimla only for vote bank and to shut the mouth of agitating public in mid-May this year. “We have again no flight connectivity till September. Light fog is normal thing on the mountains and flights used to land throughout the monsoon here. But what happened this year when most of the time weather is crystal clear in Kullu,” Manali travel agent association president Anil Sharma said who believes everything is going wrong in Manali. He claims that 90% of the tourists to Ladakh are going by flights only and remaining 10% are going by roads from Manali and Srinagar. “We are losing our high end clients. Why government is having difficulty to convince private airlines to give their services?” This is peak trekking season in Himachal Pradesh and majority of clients are from abroad. Most of the foreigner guests avoid surface transport and prefer taking flights from Delhi. Travel agents claim that such clients are preferring going to Ladakh, Srinagar or North East states which are
Problems of mangled tourism industry of Kullu-Manali seems not to be finishing soon as the industry which is already suffering slump is irritating high end tourists with no flight connectivity. Heavy to normal monsoon, cloudbursts, Rohtang pass environment issue, agitations by local traders and taxi operators have already bled the tourism here. Now suspension of
Battered by unexpected slowdown in tourism industry, all the trades beginning from hotel industry to taxi or adventure industry of Himachal have dropped their service charges up to 50% to be able to breathe in the suffocating atmosphere of recession. Manoj Kumar, a hotel contractor from Garhwal, broke his lease with two hotels two years in advance. He believes that operating hotel is no more the affair of profit. “I suffered huge losses. I’m not able to meet the expenses of staff and other running costs. Hotel is empty and the peak summer season which used to last for more than two years was observed only for 20 days in June this year.” Similar are the comments from most of the hoteliers. Not only early arrival of the monsoon and disaster in Uttarakhand but the tourism entrepreneurs attributes this sudden slowdown to weak marketing of tourism of the state by government. The only way out of this situation is big discounts. Hoteliers are offering big discounts on room tariff to entice the guests. Even the fare of taxi and luxury buses has decreased to attract customers. Now that season for trekking and adventure activities has begun, travel agents are trying to stay on track by offering big rebates. “Advertisement of Himachal tourism may put a big impact on the industry as now the fight is between states and we are lagging behind in marketing,” laments Gajender Thakur, a hotelier and former president of hoteliers association here who is allowing flat 50% discount in his hotel. He said tourism in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is booming with the help of advertisements and the Himachal Tourism Development Board had once suggested making Kangana Ranaut, the Himachal girl, the brand ambassador of Himachal which could not be implemented. Manali town is full with
Battered by unexpected slowdown in tourism industry, all the trades beginning from hotel industry to taxi or adventure industry of Himachal have dropped their service charges up to 50% to be able to breathe in the suffocating atmosphere of recession. Manoj Kumar, a hotel contractor from Garhwal, broke his lease with two hotels two years
Undeterred by calamity of Uttarakhand that killed hundreds of devotees, thousands of lord Shiva devotees from across the country are set to prove that no calamity can shake their faith in god by joining the toughest yatra to 17,000 feet high Shrikhand Mahadev from July 15. Shrikhand MahadevLingam Given the increasing number of pilgrims to Shrikhand yatra, district administration and organizing committee of yatra are going to hold a meeting to chalk out the plan for safety, security and convenience of expected thousands of people on Tuesday. The pilgrimage to Shrikhand Mahadev starts from Rampur (Shimla) and Nirmand (Kullu) and is one of the toughest yatras of the world. Unlike the ice-lingam of Amarnath, the miraculous 72 feet tall Shiva lingam of Shrikhand, which has cracks in it, is famous for not allowing snow to accumulate on it despite 30 to 40 feet high snow in its surroundings. According to members of Shrikhand Seva Mandal, number of pilgrims is going to increase by many numbers as they are getting thousands of phone calls from across the country. “Most of the phone calls are from devotees who could not visit dhams in Uttarakhand. And now they want to get virtue of Shiva from this yatra. Most of the pilgrims are from Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, besides Himachal Pradesh,” president of Shrikhand Seva Mandal, Govind Sharma, said. Shrikhand yatra continues for one month from July 15 in the month of Shravan. Devotees can reach up to Jaon village of Nirmand by road and then starts about 35km-long on foot one side yatra. The both side yatra generally takes four days. Administration is busy in repairing the Rampur-Jaon road and arranging for parking facilities to accommodate hundreds of vehicles. For safety reasons, all the pilgrims joining yatra shall have to
Undeterred by calamity of Uttarakhand that killed hundreds of devotees, thousands of lord Shiva devotees from across the country are set to prove that no calamity can shake their faith in god by joining the toughest yatra to 17,000 feet high Shrikhand Mahadev from July 15. Shrikhand MahadevLingam Given the increasing number of pilgrims to
