The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Board recently said that it is targeting three million tourist arrivals in the state during this monsoon season. The board has partnered with a host of hotels and travel agencies offering discounts in order to attract more tourists during the ‘lean’ rainy season.
“The tourism department has set a target to attract a total of 30 lakh tourists during this monsoon season. Around 28 lakh tourists visited the state during last year’s monsoon,” Arun Sharma, Director, Tourism, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh said in a statement. Around 2.2 million tourists visited the state during monsoon in 2008, which swelled to 2.6 million during 2009, he added. For the whole of 2010, the state received 13.2 million tourists, an increase of 16.83 per cent compared to the previous year, according to a PTI report.
“State-run HPTDC hotels are offering heavy discounts in all major tourist destinations during the leisure period from July 1 to September 14,” the statement said. Various travel and hotel associations at Manali, Shimla and Dharamsala are also offering discounts to the visitors besides extensive marketing campaigns in metropolitan cities through reputed travel agencies.