Making a beeline for the hills: One lakh tourists expected to reach Shimla for New Year

Shimla, December 28

Nearly 1.5 lakh tourists have visited Shimla on Christmas and around 80,000 to one lakh tourists are expected for New Year celebrations, a senior police officer said.

“On the pattern of Christmas and winter carnivals, we will manage the rush for December 31. We had nearly 1.5 lakh tourists on Christmas and are expecting 80,000 to one lakh people on year-end,” SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said.

“In Shimla, in the past 10 days, we have recorded 1.6 lakh vehicles having crossed the Shoghi Barrier,” he added.

The SP said the department is monitoring the traffic with CCTVs and drones.

“We have made arrangements at the main tourist points in Shimla — the Ridge, Kufri, Narkanda and other places. We have CCTVs and drones monitoring the traffic congestion. We are trying to ensure security, safety and traffic arrangements and are also guiding the tourists,” he said.

“We have come here in the hope of seeing snow. The mountain view is really good. Due to the tourist inflow, it is taking long but we are enjoying it,” Gulshan, a tourist from Noida, said.

The tourists said that following overcrowding hotels are charging three times the tariff.

“We faced problems in getting a hotel because of the tourist rush. It was disappointing that we got the hotel at three times the tariff,” Aanchal, a tourist from UP, said.