Heading to Himachal, get hotel booking in advance, or spend night in chilly cold!

Shimla/Manali, Dec 25 (IANS) If you are heading to the hills of Himachal Pradesh this week to ring in New Year, get an advance booking of a hotel or a homestay unit before travelling, government officials said on Monday.

Otherwise, you may have to spend a night in the chilly cold.

As per official records, nearly 65,000 tourists were recorded at Atal Tunnel, Rohtang in upper Manali on Sunday with over 12,000 vehicles ferrying them.

Due to congestion and snowfall at South Portal of the tunnel, vehicles were stranded on the icy roads, turning joy into a nightmarish experience for the nearly 3,000 tourists at minus 12 degrees.

After months of tourism business nosedived in the wake of floods and landslides caused by incessant rains that wreaked havoc in July-August, tens of thousands of holidaymakers have already converged across destinations in the state.

The state capital Shimla and its nearby picnic spots got over 50,000 tourists on Sunday to celebrate Christmas.

Keeping in mind to set cash registers ringing, several private hoteliers in prominent destinations like Shimla, Kufri, Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur, Kasauli and Chail have hiked room tariffs.

Available information suggests a room fetching Rs 3,000 from October to mid of December is sold off at Rs 6,000 a day in most of the hotels in Shimla, Kufri, Chail, Narkanda and Kasauli.

Most of the hotels in the state capital Shimla, Manali and Kasauli and Dharamsala, which saw less than 30 per cent of the occupancy in the first three months of December, have been experiencing 90 to 98 per cent occupancy till December 31, a good business, members of the hospitality industry said.

“The occupancy in most of our properties is near to 90 per cent. We are expecting to do a good business till the end of this year,” a Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) official, who is posted in Shimla, told IANS.

Aradhika Sharma, a senior executive with a Ludhiana-based multinational company, said: “It is really pleasant to be back in Shimla after a long gap.”

Her husband Deepak added: “These days it is pleasant to be in the hills. We come here every year to spend days when the plains are foggy.”

Narkanda, the heart of the apple belt some 65km from the state capital, and the popular tourist resorts Manali and Dalhousie are bereft of snow cover.

However, hills overlooking Manali have plentiful of snow.

The 9.2-km horseshoe-shaped single-tube, two-lane Atal Tunnel Rohtang, which has shortened the distance between Manali and Keylong, the headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, by 46 kms, reducing the travel time by nearly three hours, is an added attraction of the holidaymakers.

The tunnel has also ensured all-weather connectivity to the landlocked Lahaul Valley.

Travel agents told IANS a large chunk of tourists bound for Manali prefer a visit to villages located in Lahaul with the opening of the Atal Tunnel.

Mukesh Thakur, Manali Hoteliers Association President, said most of the hoteliers in Manali and nearby areas have 100 per cent occupancy till January 2.

The state police evacuated tourists’ vehicles at the Atal Tunnel Rohtang, braving freezing cold.

Lakhs of tourists thronged the state on the festive season, particularly on the Christmas Eve and approaching New Year, an official statement said.

“We welcome the tourists, who have come to the state in such a huge number, crossing over lakhs,” a statement quoting Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu said, adding around 65,000 tourists were recorded at Atal Tunnel on Sunday.

He praised the efforts of the district administration and the police for managing the huge rush and extending helping hand to a few struck up in snow, particularly at North and South Portal of Atal Tunnel, where the local administration and the police force has been managing the traffic in minus 12 degrees.

Sharing photographs of the evacuation of tourists stranded in vehicles at Atal Tunnel, Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu said the local administration and the police of both the Lahaul-Spiti and Kullu districts have been working round the clock to manage the traffic smoothly.

Himachal Pradesh has no high-end hotels and restaurants in far-off areas. Rural home-stays that started in 2008 have been driving tourists to the interiors and that are the best option to stay and enjoy the virgin nature and snowy landscape.

The state's economy is highly dependent on tourism, besides hydroelectric power and horticulture.