CHANDIGARH: Pounded by landslides and swamped by swollen rivers, Himachal Pradesh sees a sliver of opportunity for its battered tourism industry: a trickle in tourist flow from Delhi in the long weekend beginning September 8 as G20 would keep Delhiites in lockdown mode.
Those associated with the tourism sector say Himachal has suffered a loss of about Rs 2,000 crore in just two months of July and August when the rain unleashed its fury. Hotel occupancy plummeted to 1-2%.
Himachal’s hoteliers have started offering attractive packages with 40-50% discount to raise the tourist footfall. They pin hopes on the vacation-like time during the G-20 summit meeting in Delhi.
“We can only hope that the public holiday in Delhi from September 8 to 10 in view of the G20 Summit could usher in better times. We have already received inquiries, which we think is a good sign for us,” said Shimla Hotels and Tourism Stakeholders Association President M K Seth. “We expect hotel rates are discounted” though traffic could be less than usual,’’ said Seth.
Himachal’s hotel industry,is now worried how to arrange staff salaries in the absence of occupancy. “Added to that are electricity and water bills, garbage collection fees and other fixed expenses,’’ said Seth.
Director Tourism and MD of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Amit Kashyap said quoting police data: “The only silver lining appeared in the past couple of months with the influx of devotees in six Shakti Peeths. About 8.24 lakh pilgrims visited Chintpurni, Sri Naina Devi, Jwalaji, Brajeshwari, Sri Baglamukhi and Chamunda Devi shrines from August 17 to 25.’’