Defying Covid-19 protocols amidst the scare of the new Omicron variant, crowds of holidaymakers have descended onto Himachal Pradesh’s popular tourist resorts Shimla, Narkanda, Dharamsala, Kalpa, Manali, Dalhousie and elsewhere, the highest-ever arrival of tourists in the history, to ring in the New Year with carnivals and musicals amidst a snowy landscape.
After a day of snowfall in Manali, Kalpa and other destinations on higher reaches, turning them more picturesque, the Met Office in Shimla on Saturday predicted the sun will shine across the state till January 5, 2023.
But the prevailing minimum temperature in most of the places will stay close to sub-zero with chances of dense fog in low hills.Members of the hospitality industry told IANS that most of the hotels across the state have been seeing close to 95 per cent occupancy.
An official with the state tourism department advises the tourists to get an advance booking of a hotel or a homestay unit before travelling.By evening of December 31, he said, the occupancy could reach 100 per cent, a record business after the two toughest years ever seen by the travel industry.”We are expecting to see a good business this weekend and next week also seeing the influx of the tourist arrival and the booking enquiries we are getting,” Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) Manager Nand Lal, who is posted in Holiday Home hotel here, told IANS.
After Kothi and Solang valley receiving the snowfall, Kullu Police have advised motorists not to travel beyond Nehru Kund, 7 km from Manali town, on December 31 as the road beyond is slippery.”We are advising the motorists, especially the tourists, to park their vehicles at the parking lot in Solang to visit nearby places on foot,” a police official told IANS.
On December 29, tourists stranded in nearly 100 vehicles overnight in the 9.02-km long horseshoe-shaped Atal Tunnel, the world’s longest motorable tunnel, for hours after the onset of heavy snowfall in the region. The local administration had a tough time in rescuing them, a majority of them tourists who were merrymaking and taking selfies amidst the snowy landscape.
According to the state tourism department, more than 20,000 tourists travel through the Atal Tunnel every day during the peak tourist season and tourism, including skiing, trekking and paragliding, is a key source of income for the local people.
