Bookings cancelled as cloudburst in Kullu makes tourists wary, Manali hoteliers worried

Abhinav Vashisht

KULLU, JULY 8

Hoteliers of Manali are worried after cancellation of a large number of bookings as the news of a cloudburst in Kullu on July 6 spread fast. The hoteliers said that they tried to impress upon their guests that the cloudburst happened in an entirely different valley and there was no threat or risk in Manali. However, as the name of Kullu featured prominently in the calamity in the Choj village in Parbati valley, tourists cancelled their advance bookings.

A hotelier of Manali said the news about the cloudburst on social media spread quickly. He said at least seven bookings were cancelled as the tourists were confused and fear stricken. He added that he tried to clarify that the cloudburst occurred in a different region and there was no destruction in the Kullu and Manali region. Therefore, they could come here fearlessly, but most of them cancelled their trips.

Manali Hoteliers Association (MHA) president Mukesh Thakur said that generally the tourists abstain from visiting the mountain regions during the monsoons. He said that especially after the Uttarakhand cloudburst disaster, the word ‘cloudburst’ horrified visitors. Being a normal phenomenon in hilly regions, major disasters due to cloudbursts were rare. Kullu and Manali had not witnessed any major disaster due to cloudburst since long and it was safe for the tourists to come here, he added.

Budhi Prakash Thakur, state convener of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Himachal Pradesh (FOHRA), said that such disasters had an adverse impact on tourist footfall. He said that people refrain from going to hilly areas witnessing heavy rains as the traffic is sometimes hampered after landslides. He said that about 10 per cent of the advance bookings had been cancelled due to the recent incident of cloudburst in the Parbati valley.

A travel agent Vinay said that many bookings were cancelled as word about the cloudburst spread rapidly. He said that this year the tourist influx declined considerably by the end of June and only a few visitors were coming to Manali. Now the information about the cloudburst in Kullu will further deter the visitors from coming here.

He said that infrastructure here was good enough to cope with natural disasters and visitors can come without any fear to Manali. Sounding caution, he said that visitors should refrain from going near water bodies during the rainy season.

#himachal tourism #Kullu #Manali #Tourism