Amid tourist boom, HPTDC posts ₹5.82-crore profit in two months
SHIMLA : As tourists make a beeline for the colder climes of Himachal Pradesh to escape the sweltering summer heat, the tourist boom has reversed the fortunes of the hill state’s Covid beleaguered tourism industry with the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) turning a profit of ₹5.82 crore in two months.
In April and May, when the country was in the grip of an unprecedented heat wave, around 40 lakh tourists flocked to the hill state. In these two months alone, 71 HPTDC-RUN hotels, restaurants and cafes earned ₹5.82 crore, registering an approximately seven fold increase against the peak tourist season (May and June) in 2019, when the HPTDC turned a profit of ₹90 lakh.
Between April and June around 60 lakh tourists have already visited the hill state, with 18 lakh people visiting in April, 19 lakh in May and 21 lakh in June. HPTDC director tourism and managing director Amit Kashyap says, “There has been a marked increase in the profit earned this year as compared to the pre-pandemic years. There has also been a surge in tourist arrivals.”
Domestic tourists’ preferred destination
While Himachal, which is also called the Land of Gods, attracts a large number of domestic tourists, not many foreigners include it in their travel itinerary. However, this year, the state hosted fewer visitors from Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal as the majority of tourists from these areas now prefer to travel to Jammu and Kashmir. Himachal draws the maximum tourists from the northern states of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.
HPTDC is also taking a slew of initiatives to attract tourists. “We have been holding camps and participating in tourism conclaves. Our officers have visited
Maharashtra, Gujarat and the northeastern states to promote the hill state as an attractive tourist destination,” said Kashyap. Nand Lal Sharma, the assistant general manager of Hotel Holiday Home, a flagship HPTDC hotel in Shimla, says, “We have made changes to the menu, upskilled our staff, including our chefs, and improved the cleanliness standard.”
Peaceful environs attract tourists
Over the weekend (June 25-26), a five to six hour traffic jam was seen at the Shimla-kalka highway with 24,000 vehicles entering the hill state. Ask tourists what brings them to the state and they list Himachal’s clean hillsides and peaceful environment. A tourist from Punjab, Amarjeet Singh, said, “We are here for a pre-wedding photo shoot. We are enjoying the pleasant weather so much, that we have extended our stay so as to visit Kufri and other tourist destinations outside the city limits.”
Sanjay Kumar of Delhi, who was visiting the state with his seven friends, said, “We are visiting the Queen of Hills after seven years. Though the city has undergone a lot of developement, it is still quaint and refreshing. We will be staying here for four to five days.”
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Tourism Stakeholder Association president Mohinder Seth said, “We only saw 100% occupancy for 10 -15 days that too on a discounted rate. However, this is much better than 2020 when occupancy was nil due to Covid induced lockdowns and travel expenditures. At least, we are able to meet our fixed expenditure.”
Tourism economy in Himachal amounts to ₹11,000 crore and contributes to 7.3% of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). In 2019, around 17 lakh tourists, of which 4 lakh were foreigners, had visited the state, a jump of nearly 5% as compared to 2018. The state has around 4,011 hotels, 828 restaurants, 4,400 travel agents, and 2,934 homestays.