In Shimla, tourism stakeholders assemble to talk to the state government

Friday, June 4, 2021

On Thursday, before the cabinet meeting, the tourism stakeholders called on Shimla to highlight to the state government the awful condition of the industry in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Industry stakeholders, including hoteliers, taxi operators, travel agents, adventure tourism operations and others, assembled to talk as well as plan their demands with the government.

Already the sector is encountering major credit issue, said Pratap Chauhan, owner of an adventure resort in Hatu Peak. To quote him, “My business has almost completely shut down for the second year in a row now. My major concern is to be declared as none. -Performing asset as my unit is on credit”.

Chouhan said that urging the intervention of the state government to ease the admission process and e-pass registration, “There are over 3,000 hotels in the state and hundreds of people have lost their jobs. We request the government to ease the entry process in the state so that tourists do not face any hassle and we can get enough tourism to run our business, as well as stay safe from COVID-19.”

To quote Vividh Sood, a local travel agent, “We were expecting things to improve earlier this year, but with the second wave of the pandemic, we are neither left with jobs nor have we been able to pay our employees. There is no money to do. We are looking forward for any kind of government assistance”.

Neeraj Gupta, a hotelier said that in Himachal Pradesh only 1 per cent of the big hotels are functioning.

“Summer season is our main earning period and with the second wave, anything even during this period has not been earned. We had taken loan to pay salaries last year, but this year, we have nothing left. We demand that the state government take up this issue with the central government so that banks can give us interest subvention.”

« Back to Page

• Indian tourists love to go to Himalayan hill stations as summer travel looms

• Himachal paralyzed: Snowstorm seals 504 roads, travel disrupted

• Shimla’s tourism flourishes in the middle of festive season

• In Shimla, HP Tourism hosts paragliding demo

• Shimla move toward normal situation