Saving Himachal tourism from decline

Prashant Gautam

THE monsoon has brought the curtain down on the tourist season in Himachal Pradesh. For reasons ranging from traffic snarls to steep taxes on tourist vehicles and aggressive marketing by other hill states, the state’s tourism industry has suffered two consecutive bad years. That the revenue generated from tourism activities is the mainstay of the state’s economy is no secret. However, this sector is fraught with challenges and missteps that threaten to undermine its potential.
Back in 2005-06, the state government was bitten by the disinvestment bug. It planned the privatisation of select properties of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC), starting with the famed Goofa Ashiana restaurant on the Ridge in Shimla. Yes, the very building crowned with a pointy hat-like slate canopy. A middle written by Prof Vepa Rao caught the then chief minister’s attention and resulted in scuttling of the move. Rao, a noted columnist and a patron of the restaurant, had underscored the importance of Goofa Ashiana not only as a tourist landmark but also as an institution in the public life of Shimla.
Fast-forward to 2024: a video that went viral showed the tourism corporation’s top officer giving a dressing-down to the staff for not donning caps in the kitchen of the restaurant. This video is a fit case study to explain negative marketing, organisational behaviour and the need for professionalism. The video, unintentionally, also laid bare to the public a kitchen in neglect, with poorly maintained walls and roofs. Of course, the management won’t reprimand itself for its lapse.
Whether through direct or indirect taxes, or through income generated from the state-owned HPTDC, tourism has an immense untapped economic potential in Himachal. State tourism corporations, mandated with developing and facilitating tourism, are also entrusted with setting standards of service and pricing through their properties.
Throughout Himachal, scores of big and small HPTDC properties in the past have paved the way for tourism development in popular and offbeat areas. However, of late, the sector has been marred by poor management and a lack of vision. Investing in proper maintenance, professional management and genuine marketing efforts are essential to boost Himachal’s tourism. However, service delivery in the short term and a viable road map for the long term are conspicuous by their absence.
Places like Goofa Ashiana reflect the collective memory and identity of the people. The same is true for HPTDC properties like the Club House in McLeodganj or Naggar Castle near Manali. Left to untrained and unprofessional managers, the economics is bound to come full circle, till one day bureaucrats propose the privatisation of these properties. This time, no citizen may be able to save them from becoming the subject of an elegy.