Now, packed hotels trigger chaos in Shimla

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 15

Hotels in the Queen of Hills are booked to capacity with a large number of tourists thronging the place to escape the scorching heat of the plains.

As compared to weekdays here in the state capital when the occupancy in most hotels is close to 80 per cent, weekends witness a major surge in the tourist footfall.

Despite some showers and a hailstorm earlier this week, there has been little respite from the heat in most parts of the state. Tourists, who are arriving here on weekends without a hotel booking, are facing great inconvenience.

Most of them are driving beyond smaller destinations to be able to get a room.

Sanjay Sood, president of the Shimla Hoteliers Association, had advised those planning a trip to Shimla on weekends to get advance booking done to avoid inconvenience.

Most hotels of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation in Shimla, Kullu-Manali and Dharamsala are packed on weekends.

The situation on weekdays is relatively better. The rush is expected to continue till the schools in the plains open in early July. The situation with regard to water supply in the state capital here is comfortable with the town being supplied 51.7 MLD, which is more than sufficient to meet the requirement, including that of the floating population.

With some initiatives having been taken by the district administration to regulate traffic and prevent congestion, the situation is better than the last weekend, when traversing 5 km took almost two hours. As per the new traffic plan, all private and government schools remained closed, thus reducing the volume of traffic considerably.

“The school timings of Loreto Convent Tara Hall and Auckland House have been staggered, which will help reduce congestion around Victory Tunnel,” said Deputy Commissioner Amit Kashyap. He added that the change in school timings would help prevent the cascading effect of congestion near Victory Tunnel. Shimla today recorded a maximum temperature of 29 degrees C, while Una was the hottest at 43.4 degrees C, followed by Paonta Sahib at 42.2 degrees C. One can hope to get some respite from the heat with the Met Department predicting thunderstorm, accompanied by a hailstorm, on June 16, 17 and 18.

Occupancy 80% on weekends

• As compared to weekdays, the occupancy in most Shimla hotels is close to 80 per cent.
• Tourists, who are arriving here on weekends without hotel bookings, are facing great inconvenience.
• Most of them are driving beyond smaller destinations to be able to get a room.