HP’s palate-tickling treat for tourists

By: Avnish Katoch

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 8
To make tourists from various parts of the country feel special and at home, the Himachal Tourism will now offer delicacies from different states of India by holding cuisine festivals from Kerala, Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab and other parts.

The first in the series of these cuisine festivals will be the one from Kerala. This will be organised anytime after May15 at Shimla. Interestingly, the Tourism Department will not just care for the palate but will also try and give to tourists a glimpse into the culture of that particular state.

While the state capital shall be the venue for the Kerala cuisine festival, Manali will host Gujarat and Bengal food festivals every weekend. ‘‘The fact is that Indian tourist is not too experimentative as far as trying different cuisine is concerned so we will give them the feel of home while they are our guests,’’ says Mr Tarun Shridhar, Director, Tourism and Managing Director, HP Tourism Development Corporation.

Keeping in view the proximity of Dalhousie to Punjab, the town shall hold Punjabi cuisine festival. With a large number of Bengali tourists making a beeline to Dharamsala, the department will offer food from this state along with Punjabi food during the peak tourist season .

Prior to this only Himachal food festival used be held at a few places during the tourist season. To begin with the department will hold cuisine festivals from Kerala, Bengal, Gujarat and Punjab but later on food from other states will also be offered.

Efforts are also afoot to organise puppet and magic shows at popular destinations like Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala and Dalhousie to enable the tourists to enjoy every moment of their stay in Himachal. These events will form a part of the cultural pageants that are held in various towns of tourist interest.

In Shimla these are organised at the Ridge, Mall, Naldehra, Kufri and Fagu.

To provide proper information to the tourists about Himachal and save them from falling prey to crafty travel agents and other touts, the tourism department has for the first time come up with do’s and don’ts on its website www.himachaltourism.nic.in). There will be names and numbers of people to be contacted for booking, complaints and for making any other enquiries.

The tourism department will also be distributing pamphlets to the tourists arriving here. The department has also come out, for the first time, with a road map of the state and a booklet ‘‘A to Z ’’ of Himachal, providing information about each and every place worth visiting in the state.