New Year cheer for hoteliers as tourists flock Himachal

The recent snowfall has given fillip to the tourism industry and the main tourist destinations like Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala and Dalhousie are brimming with tourists. Due to this the hotel occupancy has also soared brining a smile on face of hoteliers.

At many places — including in the capital Shimla — some hotels are already sold out for New Year’s eve.

In Shimla, the hotel occupancy is expected to be around 100% on New Year, while in Manali it is likely to hover around 80%. Adviser of Shimla hotels and tourism stakeholders association Anil Walia said, “The hotel occupancy is at the highest at this time and we expect it to be around 100% on New Year in Shimla and surrounding areas.”

“This is after many years that we have received snowfall in December. Though the New Year is on Tuesday (mid-week), a lot of people are still coming because of the recent snowfall,” Walia said.

In Kullu-Manali, the tourists have been enjoying the snow in recent days in Solang valley. President of Kullu-Manali Paryatan Vikas Mandal Anup Thakur said that hotels will be jam-packed on New Year. “The average occupancy of hotels here will reach 80% and may also go beyond it. We are receiving a number of queries and bookings. The recent snowfall has given fillip to the tourism industry as we also witnessed huge rush around Christmas as well.

“Tourists here are mainly enjoying snow in Solang valley and flocking in Manali as well. The maximum tourists are from Punjab and Haryana, but there are tourists from other places as well such as Gujarat and Delhi,” he said.

After a slowdown during the monsoon season, hotel occupancy saw a slight uptick in October and November and peaked in the final days of December. The dry spell in November and early December had impacted the tourism industry, but the fresh spell of snowfall is drawing a large number of tourists.

Dharamshala hotel association president Ashwani Bamba said, “Some hotels are already sold out and the average occupancy will be around 65% on New Year’s Eve. Around Christmas the hotel occupancy was around 45% and it increased after that. We are receiving bookings and enquiries. The tourists coming here are mainly from Delhi and Punjab.” “When snowfall occurs, it gives a fillip to the tourism and hospitality industry across Himachal because tourists travel to many places here. Tourists from places like Delhi and Madhya Pradesh who come to Shimla and Manali to enjoy snowfall, visit Dharamshala as well,” he said.

After the recent snowfall, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) Shimla office has predicted dry weather to prevail across Himachal till January 1, after which another spell of light rain and snowfall is expected at isolated places in higher reaches from January 2.