Uttarakhand: Tourism business of disaster prone Joshimath town sinks

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Declared as disaster prone by the government, Joshimath in Uttarakhand is witnessing an ecological crisis. A town of 17,000 people with more than 50 hotels is being evacuated. With this, the motel town is now witnessing the slow death of tourism business.

All those travelling to key tourist destinations including the revered Badrinath and Hemkunt Sahib make a stopover at Joshimath, generating revenue for the locals.

The town sees a footfall of close to millions of devotees every year, while generating allied jobs for the residents. Most of the hotels in Joshimath have closed their operations and some said they are already operating incurring operational losses.

While speaking to Business Standard, Shrikant Dimri, owner, Hotel Mount View Joshimath said, “The winter season is ruined for the industry, revenue has plummeted over 80 per cent for the majority of the hotel owners. No new tourists are coming now.” Dimri has closed operations at his hotel.

But Dimri is hopeful that the starting of Badrinath Yatra in April will give momentum to the industry again. “A lot depends on how much Joshimath sinks,” Dimri said.

Expert panel has reached Joshimath to examine affected areas. Ranjit Sinha, Disaster Management Secretary while speaking to media on Monday said, “All we know is land can not bear the load. Our relief work is still on & until then there will be no construction work done at the location. ”

However, as of now, there is no evidence available stating the reasons behind this disaster in Joshimath. Experts have blamed unplanned infrastructure development, including hydropower projects, for the alarming situation.

According to State Tourism ministry data in 2021, over 165,000 visited Joshimath town. However, more than half a million tourists went through the town to visit destinations like Badrinath, Auli, and Hemkund Sahib, etc.

The tourism industry in Joshimath has taken a sever hit due to the disaster. This could indirectly affect Uttarakhand as a tourist destination.

The Business Standard quoted a report by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in 2019 which says that tourism is estimated to contribute 2.96 percent directly to Uttarakhand’s Gross Value Added (GVA) and 11.8 per cent to the state employment.

With the inclusion of indirect shares pertaining to linkages of tourism with other sectors of the economy, these shares work out to 6.59 per cent in GVA and 26.8 per cent in employment.

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