State Hospitality unit seemed to lost summer tourist season for a consecutively second year due to outbreak of COVID 19 as recent advisory issued by the government regarding carrying of 72 hours old Covid negative report mandatory for tourists coming from seven heavy loaded states completely stopped the inflow of tourists to Himachal Pradesh.
State Tourism industry stakeholders Association President Mahinder Seth said that hospitality units are already in a bad shape due to the complete closure of tourism units for seven to eight months last year. The industry was slowly heading towards revival due to the free flow of tourists.
The stakeholders were at least getting some revenue to meet their expenses up to some extent. But the outbreak of the second layer of Corona has broken the backbone of the tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh.
The tourism of Himachal is seasonal and the major revenue generation up to 65 per cent of the total revenue of the year comes in the summer season starting from March 15 to July 25.
The tourists from Maharashtra and Gujarat contributes maximum occupancy for hotels in March and April. It has become difficult for the stakeholders to keep their units running due to a shortage of funds.
Even business travelers coming from other states are not ready to provide their services due to the mandatory requirement of the negative report. “We urge the government to do away the advisory issued to carry negative report.
“We urge the government to do away the advisory issued to carry negative report. We further request the government to charge subsidized tariff for two years for water, property tax, garbage fee and completely abolish demand charges and other fees charged from the hotel industry and give 75 per cent on bar fees to save the tourism industry which is already on a ventilator due to lack of funds required for day to day running expenses,” said Mahinder Seth.
