Shimla: Moderate snowfall in the hills of Himachal Pradesh Sunday cheered up members of the hospitality industry as they are expecting a spike in tourist footfalls, mainly youngsters, who want to celebrate a “white” Valentine’s Day.
The honeymooners’ paradise of Manali and nearby hills of state capital Shimla and McLeodganj, the abode of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, got another spell of snow, turning them more picturesque.
The weather office here said there are chances of heavy rain and snow at isolated places in the state till Monday.
Meanwhile, Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest town in the state with a low of minus 11.6 degrees Celsius. It saw 1 cm of snow.
The minimum temperatures in Shimla and Manali were 1.3 degrees and minus 0.6 degree, respectively. Manali experienced 4 cm of snow.
Kalpa, some 250 km from Shimla, saw the night temperature at minus 3.6 degrees Celsius, while it was 3.5 degrees in Dharamsala.
And those in the hospitality industry are happy as they are expecting a good number of tourists on Valentine’s Day (Feb 14).
“Snowfall is always an added attraction for the tourists. Even if there is no snow ahead of V-Day, Shimla still has snowy landscape due to earlier snows,” Clarke’s Hotel general manager D.P. Bhatia said.
IANS
