MANALI: Who cares about biting cold when it’s bringing hot revenue to the tourism industry with thousands of tourists spending generously on their tour to snow covered Manali. Tourists, mostly newlywed couples, are enjoying their first romance with snow and hoteliers are busy in counting the cash.
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| Tourists on Mall Road, Manali |
According to data from green tax barrier, the gateway to Manali, number of tourist vehicles entering the town has doubled in a week. Majority of visitors are honeymooners. Though few of them had booked their tours in advance, but most of the tourists are heading to mountains after listening to the news of snowfall. Hoteliers, who were disappointed by lean tourism season between August and November, are now happy with rising business.
Hotel occupancy rate which was below 20 per cent before December 10 has now increased to 50 to 60 per cent and is likely to go beyond 90 per cent after December 23. According to general manager of hotel Beas View, MS Sharma, hotel industry had a bad time till November but the snowfall has brought smiles back on the faces. “Many honeymooners want to see snowfall. And high chances of snowfall are drawing more and more newlyweds to Manali. We are expecting house full after December 20,” he said.
Sant Ram, manager in hotel Mountain Top, said, “Many tourists are visiting Manali with unplanned itinerary which means they just wanted to see the snow. We are hoping to recover our losses of last four months in next three winter months. No doubt snow is the backbone of tourism industry of Manali.”
Tourists’ crowd in Manali has also cheered hundreds of restaurant owners and shopkeepers who were suffering the slowdown. “I was selling maximum of 15 shawls a month till November. Now this number has increased to 10 to 20 shawls a day. We are hoping for more snowfall in Manali,” said Mohammad Maqbool, a shawl seller.
Tourist spots like Rohtang, Beas Nullah, Marhi and Gulaba have been closed for tourists after heavy snowfall. Thousands of tourists are now enjoying skiing, snow scooter ride, horse riding and paragliding at Solang valley.
