Hotel occupancy goes up to 80% in Shimla, gives rise to traffic in state

Occupancy in hotels and homestays has increased to about 80 per cent as tourists from the neighbouring states are making a beeline to Shimla to enjoy the long weekend under the bracing climate.

The influx of tourists in the hill town is causing traffic jams on the main roads, including the Shimla-Kalka National Highway and long queues of vehicles moving at a snail's pace are causing inconvenience to both the locals and the vacationers.

Vice President of Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association Prince Kukreja told PTI that the hotel occupancy has increased to about 80 per cent in Shimla and the peak summer tourist season will start from April 15 onwards till June 15.

As temperatures have started rising in the plains the visitor rush is picking up ahead of tourist season.

Vehicles parked on the roads and in front of hotels by the tourists coming without advance booking coupled with construction going on under the Shimla Smart City project have become major traffic bottlenecks.

A number of parking lots with single entry and exit are obstructing the smooth flow of traffic as a large number of vehicles are parked outside already packed parking spaces, says Haryana residents Ashwani and Sonika, who are visiting the hill town.

The occupancy is about 80 per cent but due to heavy rush, the vehicles entering the town from Chandigarh side are generally diverted via new ISBT, affecting the occupancy of hotels located between Victory tunnel and Auckland tunnel, said president of Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association M K Seth.

The situation could be better if the traffic is regulated from Shoghi, 13 km from the main town, Seth said.

The majority of the vacationers coming from the neighbouring states are walk-in tourists and the problem of parking has once again become alive, says hotelier Sushant Nag.

The government is projecting Himachal as a favoured tourist destination and inviting tourists but the parking facility is inadequate even for locals and visitors are harassed and penalised for parking vehicles on the roadside, said Nitish, a tourist from Ludhiana.

The Tourism sector which was the worst hit during Covid 19 pandemic in Himachal is bouncing back and an 87 per cent recovery was witnessed in 2022 with tourist arrival crossing the 1.51-crore mark as compared to 1.72 crores in the pre-Covid year 2019.

As many as 1.51 crore tourists including 29,333 foreigners visited Himachal in 2022 and the twin districts of Kullu and Shimla accounted for 36 per cent of the total tourist arrival.