Himachal Pradesh had 13 good snowfall spells in January, February

Shimla, February 27

A new trend of weather forecast-based tourism is being witnessed in Shimla city. This winter season, booking in hotels went up with the MeT office predicting snow.

Whether it snowed or not, hotels were booked in advance in Shimla and surrounding areas whenever there was a warning of snow. Occupancy was between 90 per cent and 100 per cent during snowfall, says Sushant, a local hotelier.

Tourists followed the weather forecast before planning their trips. Schools were closed and a large segment of employees were still working from home due to the ongoing pandemic and therefore, it was easy to schedule tours, as per their convenience. “Going by the weather predictions on mausam.imd.gov.in and accuweather.com, we made advance bookings in Shimla and were lucky to enjoy snowfall,” says Aditya from Delhi, who visited Shimla in early January.

Himachal saw 13 significant spells of snowfall during January and February, out of which seven were widespread and six in higher reaches. Shimla and Kufri also received seven spells of snow, says Surender Paul, Director local MeT office.

“A huge rush was witnessed on weekends, whenever a snow warning was issued,” said MK Seth, president of the Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association.

Skiing in the slopes of Narkanda is a major tourist attraction. The approval of Rs 21 crore for the century-old natural ice skating rink’s makeover, to turn it into an all-weather facility, was a welcome move. Such 365-day tourist attractions were the need of the hour, Seth added.

As per the data of the Tourism Department, 56,37,102 tourists visited the state in 2021, out of which 9,52,617 visited Shimla district.