Weekend tourism picks up in Shimla

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 3

The weekend tourism has started picking up in Shimla. On Saturday, the city witnessed over 95 per cent occupancy in hotels. The occupancy dropped to about 40 per cent on Sunday.

“The Saturday rush was unprecedented as hotels in Shimla were packed to capacity but today (Sunday) is again lean with occupancy dropping to about 40 per cent,” said Shimla Hotel and Restaurant Association president Sanjay Sood, adding that they were expecting a good season in October, provided the Covid situation stayed under control.

Inflow up on friday

In the past few weeks, the tourist inflow increased on Friday, occupancy was good on Saturday but decreased on Sunday as tourists from Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Chandigarh mostly visit Shimla for the weekend. —Sanjay Sood, President, Shimla hotel association

“In the past few weeks, the tourist inflow increased on Friday, occupancy was good on Saturday but dropped on Sunday as tourists from adjoining states of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Chandigarh mostly visit Shimla only for the weekend. The tourist inflow from other states is yet to pick up,” he said.

Going by the bookings, there is a drop of 70 per cent in the tourists from West Bengal and Gujarat, who used to visit Himachal on Dussehra and Diwali, respectively, in large groups, said Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association president MK Seth.

“Tourists are wary of advance bookings as the situation changes with the rise in Covid cases. So, most of the tourists visiting Himachal are ‘walk-in’ tourists,” said travel agent Mohit Sharma.

1-day stay not enough

Hoteliers said one-day occupancy was not enough for the tourism industry to sustain itself so they were hoping that the number of tourists from other states also increased.