Hotel occupancy up as tourists throng Himachal to beat the heat

On Saturday, tourists had to wait for hours in queued vehicles to enter McLeodganj in Dharamshala due to a significant increase in the number of visitors over the past few days.

To beat the heat, tourists are flocking to Himachal Pradesh, causing hotel occupancy to go up at the major tourist destinations in the state. After a slowdown due to the Lok Sabha elections, the state has seen a significant increase in tourism in recent days.

Hoteliers report being flooded with enquiries from tourists in neighbouring states, and many visitors are experiencing difficulties securing accommodations. The hotel occupancy in Dharamshala has seen a substantial surge and is now hovering at 80% and in Kullu-Manali, the hotel occupancy stands at 90%.

Dharamshala Hotel Association president Ashwani Bamba said that the hotel occupancy has witnessed an increase from 50-70% in the last weeks of May to now 90% from the last few days. “The tourist influx is increasing now as there are summer holidays in the neighbouring states. After the third week of May, when elections were over in some states, occupancy had increased to around 50-70% but now it stands at 80-90% on weekends and 50-70% on weekdays,” he said.

The hoteliers in Dharamshala said that they are expecting the influx to continue, as tourists are rushing towards hills, till the monsoon and the hotel occupancy will continue to hover around 80%.

In Kullu-Manali, the increase in tourist influx has led to an accommodation crunch, causing many tourists to face difficulties in finding places to stay. The local hoteliers said that the recent snowfall in higher reaches is one of the reasons for the increased number of tourist arrivals.

Kullu-Manali Paryatan Vikas Mandal president Anup Thakur said that some tourists are finding it difficult to get accommodation as the influx has increased significantly. “As the plains are witnessing scorching heat, the people are rushing towards hills. Recent snowfall in areas like Rohtang has also attracted tourists amid the hot summer. Hotel occupancy is now around 90% which was 70% last month,” he said.

He also said that the government needs to improve the road connectivity at many spots which may facilitate the tourism industry more.

Meanwhile, Varun Thakur, president of the Dharamshala Taxi Union, reported an increase in enquiries and bookings from tourists. “After a slowdown last month, the number of tourists has increased, and taxi rides have also gone up,” he said.