With a view to show case Himachal as an “Excellent Tourist Destination” and also the facilities being provided to the tourists in the State, the Department of Tourism & Civil Aviation and Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) jointly organized Tourism Development Meet and Road Show today on 15th January, 2011 at Bengaluru, during the Tourism & Travel Fair (TTF) being held from 14th January to 16th January, 2011.
The Meet was addressed jointly by Dr. Arun Sharma, Director Tourism & Civil Aviation & Sh. Vineet Kumar, Managing Director, HP Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC).
Dr. Arun Sharma informed that Himachal or the Land of Snow, is a veritable paradise endowed with extreme natural beauty and spiritual calm. As a destination, Himachal has much more than what one would expect from what is arguably, the world’s greatest mountain system and it is a place where nature has artfully woven combinations of both the majestic and the gentle. A visit to this enchanting land is the most relaxing and satisfying experience. He said that in this Tourism Meet, Tour Operators, Travel Agents, Corporatist and Media were acquainted about the key marketing points of Himachal Pradesh. He said that during Tourism and Travel Fair, a three day Himachal Food Festival of traditional cuisines and Tourism exhibition are being organized besides Himachali cultural programmes for the attraction of visitors.
He said that Himachal is a very peaceful State and the people are extremely friendly and hospitable. Tourism in Himachal is
for “All Seasons and All Reasons“.
Vineet Kumar, Managing Director gave comprehensive presentation titled ‘Himachal-beyond Kullu and Manali’ in which the basic thrust was given to show case lesser known but most beautiful tourist destinations of Himachal. He said that there are numbers of alternate gorgeous destinations apart from more popular but saturated Manali and Shimla. They include Chamba-Khajjiar-Dalhousie, Dharamsala-Mcleodganj-Palampur-Jogindernaggar, Hamairpur- Jawalaji- Chamunda- Chintpurni, Rewalsar- Bilaspur- Renukaji, Chail-Barog-Fagu-Narkanda-Sarahan-Chindi and in tribal regions Kalpa-Kaza-Keylong.
All these places have beautiful HPTDC Hotels,equipped with all tourist facilities which a tourist needs during his holidays. These are linked with Rail, Roads and Air. Not only this, some of these places are very convenient for holding conferences & Seminars which the corporate look for. In Himachal, we have nature at its best, history, heritage and architecture, fair, festivals and celebrations, wildlife and adventure, religious and pilgrimage. Above all, these off beat destinations present unique ambiance for the honeymooners and health conscious tourists. Palampur, Shimla and Chail also offer Ayurvedic treatments including Panchkarma etc.
Vineet Kumar said that the HPTDC has 57 Hotels spread all across Himachal with 1053 rooms and 2260 beds including 10 Cafeterias. The HPTDC offers attractive combi, tailor- made and different packages for all season, honeymooners, students, pilgrims, adventure lovers including corporate and business houses besides monsoon, winter & group discounts. The Managing Director told that The HPTDC has an efficient Transport Wing with a fleet of Volvo & Deluxe Buses for long journey, LTC and sightseeing tours. 10% special discount is being provided in HPTDC Hotels to those travelers who travel by HPTDC coaches.
The team of senior Tourism officers & officials were also present during the Meet & TTF. The Himachal Emporium office at Bangaluru, who is working as Tourist Information Office for Himachal Tourism alongwith General Sales Agent (GSA) of HPTDC M/S Himachal Heritage Holidays at Bengaluru made all arrangements on behalf of Himachal Tourism.
All promotional efforts are good expect ground reality of tourism in Himachal. Lack of traffic management, chaos during peak seasons, touts & unregistered guides who misguide guests suddenly they step out of buses at all major destinations.
High prices & tariffs are collected even at ordinary hotels, unchecked garbage littering, misbehave by taxi drivers, collecting 200 to 500 Rs per vehicle in the name of Green Tax from tourist vehicles who are already guests in Himachal and willingly spending on good packages. To market or advertise Tourism of Himachal the tourism department and government agencies must ensure professionalism and standards for entertaining guests. Must ask center government to take care of Agitations and violent Bandhs that eventually happen in other states at peak of tourist season giving a setback to entire tourism industry in Himachal.
I would like to request top brass of Himachal Tourism department that first look at the hell of traffic , parking situations at Shimla, Manali…these important destinations are entry points for other adventure and trans Himalayan destinations like Leh, Spiti or Kaza..but their pathetic infrastructures are the biggest drawbacks for tourism development in entire state. Visitors do wish to visit Himachal but also don’t forget to broadcast the poor experiences at these places. Wake up before Srinagar gets back to normal or some other neighboring hill states make due advantage of our poor infrastructure.
It is all very good to provide numbers in terms of hotels, rooms, etc. The truth lies somewhere else in the details. There are no internet/email facilities in any of the HPTDC hotels (I have stayed in many) and thus your life comes to a stop. In this modern age, you have to remain connected to the outside world and your business or job. Another thing is that the food is very pricey and there is no check on quality of service. The room heaters are very weak and the family literally freezes inside the room. There should be 2 rod heaters and there should be blowers. Blowers are present only in very few select hotels here there is extreme cold. Even where there are 2 rooms, only one 1-rod heater is provided which is woefully insufficient. Most of the rooms are in a state of disrepair and many things don’t work. You have to keep calling to get things fixed and many can’t be fixed. For example in Chail Annexe (pretty pricey at Rs. 2500 + 20% tax), there was so much gap (1 inch) when the front door was closed that you can feel chill winds passing through the door thus nullifying the meagre heating. In Naldhera, there is no telephone system and you have to rely on your cell phone to order food thus incurring costly roaming charges. These are only some of the examples. And they do not give you reduction in prices for all these inconveniences. There is no Study Desk in any of the hotels so you do not have a place to keep your laptop to work in the evenings. With biting cold, there is not much you can do inside the rooms. When serious issues happen such as cheating and misbehavior by a taxi/car driver arranged by hotel authorities (usually a couple of hundred rupees extra over market rates which you think is assuring you against any unreliable drivers), even when you write to the managers from hotel to right upto the top, there is no response, not even an acknowledgement. There was an issue of theft of Rs. 1100/- from my room in Kasauli and the manager and higher officials in HPTDC haven’t even cared to reply to my emails. The only professional management I found was at Chail Palace.