Commissioner Tourism and Managing Director H.P. Tourism Development Corporation, Ram Subhag Singh said that Himachal state government has formulated a target to attract 94 lakh tourists this year. The preparations to welcome the tourists during current summer season have already begun, he added.
Worth pointing out is that during the last year, some 85 lakh Indians and around 3.40 lakh foreign tourists visited the State. He said that some basic steps have been taken to ensure constant flow of tourists throughout the season like renovation of heritage tourist hotels, addition of new hotels especially in the tribal areas, more facilities, complete packages and attractive discounts during the peak season. He stated that the village tourism concept is in process of being strengthened. He further announced that the HPTDC has introduced a privilege card under which 20 percent discount will be provided to the card holders for a period of three years on boarding, lodging and soft drinks.
Great initiative! These initiatives certainly look forward to development and generate revenues for the state.
94 lakhs tourists! This no. is more than the entire population of the state.
Just imagine how do the tourists come to Himachal…
Most of them come by road to Shimla/ Kullu/ Chamba……..Not to forget that roads to shimla and kullu also support heavy traffic from cement factories……and do we have any First Aid support facilities on these highways? Any police patrolling to avoid wrong parkings etc at critical points on the roads? Tow Away cranes?
For that matter and good HP Tourism joint for people to come and enjoy the food?
In wake of such high traffic on roads and pollution created by vehicles as well as people…..is the infrastructure of the state strong enough to support such tourism bursts in long run?
I am sure the Govt would also look at getting road, railroad, drinking water facilities in place and yes I hope there won’t be very many parking problems in these summers.
All said and done, Tourism is a remarkable opportunity for the revenue generation for the state, but then it needs to come up with a long term vision of developing the state.