The tourist season has finally picked up in McLeodganj and Dharamsala in the past few days. Enquiries from various tour operators in the area revealed that all hotels in the area were jam-packed. Traffic jams on the Dharamsala-McLeodganj road were also an illustration to the fact. A large number of ‘walk-in tourists’ had to return from McLeodganj as they could not find rooms.
Prem Sood, a hotelier, said the tourist season had picked up in
McLeodganj only in the past few days. However, for the entire month of June, most hotels were already booked. The tourist season had picked up after the start of holidays in schools in the plains, he said. Ram Swaroop, another hotelier from McLeodganj, said the tourist season had picked up late in the area this year. Earlier, the tourist season used to start in Dharamsala and McLeodganj in April. However, the business for the tourism industry at McLeodganj remained lean in April and the first week of May this year. As per a report by Lalit Mohan in Tribune News Service hoteliers and tour operators here feel that the return of normalcy in Kashmir has hit the tourism industry of Himachal Pradesh. A large number of domestic and international tourists now prefer Kashmir over Himachal, they say. These days a majority of tourists like to plan their tours rather than walk in to tourist places and then look for accommodation. The tour operators said there were no coordinated efforts either on the part of the Tourism Department or private hotelier bodies to ‘sell Dharamsala and the surrounding areas to tourists’. Besides McLeodganj, hotels have also come up in the hinterland surrounding Dharamsala like on the Khaniara road and Stowbery. However, the common tourist has no knowledge about these areas. In case a website containing the details of all hotels available in and around Dharamsala is made available, tourists can make an easy choice for the area. Hoteliers feel that the Himachal government should brace for the challenge being posed to its tourism industry due to the return of normalcy in Kashmir. The Tourism Department of the state will have to hardsell destinations of Himachal to national and international tourists. The tour operators reported a decline in the number of tourists coming from Europe due to the economic crises in various European Union countries.
Click here to see the original article>McLeodganj only in the past few days. However, for the entire month of June, most hotels were already booked. The tourist season had picked up after the start of holidays in schools in the plains, he said. Ram Swaroop, another hotelier from McLeodganj, said the tourist season had picked up late in the area this year. Earlier, the tourist season used to start in Dharamsala and McLeodganj in April. However, the business for the tourism industry at McLeodganj remained lean in April and the first week of May this year. As per a report by Lalit Mohan in Tribune News Service hoteliers and tour operators here feel that the return of normalcy in Kashmir has hit the tourism industry of Himachal Pradesh. A large number of domestic and international tourists now prefer Kashmir over Himachal, they say. These days a majority of tourists like to plan their tours rather than walk in to tourist places and then look for accommodation. The tour operators said there were no coordinated efforts either on the part of the Tourism Department or private hotelier bodies to ‘sell Dharamsala and the surrounding areas to tourists’. Besides McLeodganj, hotels have also come up in the hinterland surrounding Dharamsala like on the Khaniara road and Stowbery. However, the common tourist has no knowledge about these areas. In case a website containing the details of all hotels available in and around Dharamsala is made available, tourists can make an easy choice for the area. Hoteliers feel that the Himachal government should brace for the challenge being posed to its tourism industry due to the return of normalcy in Kashmir. The Tourism Department of the state will have to hardsell destinations of Himachal to national and international tourists. The tour operators reported a decline in the number of tourists coming from Europe due to the economic crises in various European Union countries.