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Tourist inflow picks up in H.P.

SHIMLA: The midsummer tourist inflow to Himachal Pradesh which was dealt a severe blow this year by untimely rain in the nearby plains is picking up now thanks to a strike by transporters in neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir.

Because of the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products, the striking transport industry in Jammu is forcing tourists to divert to Himachal. The number of vehicles entering the State through Kullu, Dharamsala and Shimla has increased manifold in recent days and there is a 25 per cent increase in the green tax being collected at various toll barriers, say officials.

The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation-run hotels and private tourist inns in the various hill resorts have reported full occupancy for the past one week. But this is a minor relief for the tourism industry here which fears that the inflow can again stop once the situation becomes normal in J&K, say a majority of hoteliers in Kullu and Shimla.

The peak tourist season was badly affected in the hill State this year due to constant rain in the neighbouring States and the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan which had disrupted road and rail traffic. Himachal Pradesh receives a large number of domestic tourists from Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat in May and June. The foreign tourists start coming in after the onset of the monsoon and they approach the upward and anterior hills for tracking and hiking.

The recent Shimla summer festival and Himachal food festival had attracted domestic tourists but the rain here played the spoilsport. The tourism department is now planning an apple festival, orchard dwelling, rock climbing, para-gliding and river rafting options along the Beas and Sutlej rivers to attract more tourists.

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