Tourism industry faces threat from within in Himachal - An Overview :

Pathetic road conditions, traffic jams, high taxes and unregistered accommodation being offered to tourists at cheap rates are the bane of the tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh, especially Shimla.While the government is expecting an investment of Rs 15,000 crore in the tourism sector, the existing tourism units are struggling for survival, as their occupancy rate and profits are declining while the operating cost is rising.

The tourist season has expanded but the stay time of tourists is shrinking. Porters, taxi operators and guides are ruling the roost. Online operators offering huge discounts and unregistered home stay accommodation and the bread and breakfast scheme are denting the occupancy rate of registered tourism units.

Himachal witnessed a sharp fall in tourist arrival in 2018, registering a decrease of 16.08 per cent compared to 2017. The arrival of foreign and domestic tourists decreased by 24.29 per cent and 15.87 per cent, respectively. Last year, the lowest number of foreign tourists visited the state in the past decade while domestic tourist count touched a four-year low. 

There is a steep decline in tourist arrival in Shimla. It has become difficult for hoteliers to meet their day-to-day operating costs. The water charges are 35 per cent to 40 per cent more than the commercial rates and hotels are in the highest slab of property tax, which is affecting their viability. Some of the reasons are :

Monsoon fury :

Frequent landslides due to road-widening projects have spelt doom for the tourism industry, especially during the monsoon season from July to September. The monsoon season is considered a “lean period” for the industry when the  tourist inflow falls drastically; it declined by 30 per cent during the monsoons this year. During this period, the tourism industry mainly depends on foreign tourists, who visit tribal and other high altitude areas for trekking and other adventure activities but frequent landslides on national and state highways and rise in the number of rainy days have become the bane of tourists. Further, rainfall in tribal areas and cold deserts in Kinnaur and Spiti have also affected tourism, as tourists, who used to make transit halts, are not keen to visit these areas due to harsh weather conditions and hostile terrain.

Adventure tourism hit :

Skiing and ice-skating, two major attractions for tourists and locals during the winter, have fallen prey to the vagaries of weather. Heavy snowfall covering the ski slopes for two to three months has become a thing of the past, as the snowline is moving upward. This phenomenon is witnessed even in Narkanda, located at an altitude of 9,000 feet, and skiers are shifting to Auli in Uttarakhand and Gulmarg in Kashmir.

Climate change :

Climate change has also taken a toll on ice skating at Asia’s oldest natural ice-skating rink at Shimla, which was a key tourist attraction during the winter. The lowest number of six skating sessions was witnessed in 2017 against 50 to 100 sessions on an average. The maximum 118 sessions were held during 1997-98.

Unregistered accommodation :

The mushrooming of unregistered accommodation in and around Shimla is ruining the tourism industry and registered hotels doing genuine business are on the brink of closure. Even illegal structures, awaiting regularisation, are booking rooms online, creating an unhealthy competition. As many as 354 such unregistered units have come up in and around Shimla, says a report on major factors affecting the tourism industry and the viability of hotels in Shimla prepared by the Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association.    

The room tariffs of registered hotels are fixed by the Department of Tourism but the online operators are booking rooms in private flats, homes, bungalows, villas and misleading tourists by displaying exorbitant prices and then offering 70 to 75 per cent discount. There are 483 registered hotels and guesthouses with 8,170 rooms in Shimla district, besides 332 home stay and 178 bread and breakfast units. According to the guidelines, the home stay units can have a maximum of three rooms and there can be six rooms under the bread and breakfast scheme. 

Floors registered in names of family members :

It is intriguing that 90 per cent of the units being run under the bread and breakfast scheme have six rooms, which is the maximum limit, but in numerous cases different floors have been registered as home stay accommodation or under the bread and breakfast scheme in the names of husband, wife and their children.

Tourist arrival in Shimla has declined sharply :

There is a steep decline in tourist arrival in Shimla. It has become difficult for hoteliers to meet their day-to-day operating costs. The water charges are 35 per cent to 40 per cent more than the commercial rates and hotels are in the highest slab of property tax, which is affecting their viability.