Booking cancellations hit hotel occupancy in Dharamsala

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, October 20

The non-availability of tickets for the ICC World Cup match between India and New Zealand scheduled on October 22 has led to cancellation of hotel booking in Dharamsala. The cricket match had generated a lot of interest among the tourists and cricket fans from across the region. About a week ago most of the hotels in Dharamsala city were packed to their capacity, thanks to online booking. However, the sources here said that many tourists cancelled their booking for the weekend as they failed to get match tickets.

60% occupancy in upper Dharamsala

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There have been many cancellations of hotel booking for the last two days as tourists are citing non-availability match tickets as the reason. While the hotels in lower Dharamsala are packed, the hotels in upper Dharmsala like McLeodganj, Dharamkot and Bhagsunag have just about 60 per cent booking for the current weekend. Ashwani Bamba, president of hotel & restaurant association, Kangra

Ashwani Bamba, president of the hotel and restaurant association of Kangra, when contacted, said that for the last two days there have been many cancellations of hotel booking with tourists citing non-availability match tickets as the reason. He said that while the hotels in lower Dharamsala that are located around the international cricket stadium are packed, the hotels in Upper Dharmsala like areas of McLeodganj, Dharamkot and Bhagsunag have just about 60 per cent booking for the current weekend due to the match.

Bamba said that though the October 22 match had generated a lot of interest among spectators, the hotel occupancy in Dharamsala for the rest of four cricket matches being held here was as low as 20 to 25 per cent.

Navneet Thakur, another hotelier from Dharamsala, said, “We are expecting walk-in bookings for the October 22 match. I hope that the walk-in bookings would make up for cancellations of booking and the city hotels would be packed at the weekend,” he said.

Meanwhile, the hoteliers of Dharamsala region have alleged that the tourist influx was poor in the Kangra area. Ashwani Bamba said that the decision of travel agents from Bengal, Gujarat and Maharashtra to boycott Himachal had dealt a blow to tourism in the region. The decision of the state government to increase tax on tourist vehicles registered outside the states has impacted tourism adversely in the region. The travel agents have diverted the tourists coming to Himachal to Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Now the government was saying that it was contemplating cutting down tax on tourist vehicles registered outside the state. However, for the current season for October and November, the damage has already been done, he said.

Vipin Nehria, a hotelier from Bhagsunag, said high taxes imposed by the state government on tourist vehicles coming from other states had rendered Himachal unviable for competitive market of tour operators. The government should fix its taxes on tourism sector keeping in mind what was being charged by the adjoining hill states of J&K and Uttarakhand or else it would hamper tourist inflow to the state.