Himachal Pradesh: Tourism industry experiences financial hardships due to monsoon mayhem

Following the suspension of tourism in the hill state due to this year’s heavy rains, the stakeholders in the Himachal Pradesh tourism industry have expressed their frustration over their financial struggles. The president of the State Tourism Industry Stakeholders’ Association, Mohinder Seth, claimed that tourism has been severely impacted throughout the Shimla region as a result of the region’s heavy and persistent downpours since the beginning of July this year. “For the past month or so, tourism in Shimla has virtually stopped. Even this weekend, hotel occupancy rates are only around 1 to 2 percent. Since they haven’t been able to make any money over the past month, the tourism stakeholders in Himachal are under stress, according to Seth.

Seth added that the stakeholders were bound to face acute financial shortages and that the whole sector had been suffering losses for the past five years for various reasons.
“The tourism industry of Shimla is bearing financial loss for one reason or the other from last five years may it be an acute water shortage in 2018 or COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the subsequent second wave of the pandemic during the summer season of 2021,” he pointed out.

The stakeholders in the tourism sector were optimistic about some progress, but Seth continued to observe low foot traffic at the area’s hotels in May and June. The president of the stakeholder association continued, “The tourism sector, which accounts for 7.5% of the state’s GDP, is the backbone of Himachal’s economy. The tourism sector supports the state’s largest number of jobs and thousands of families depend on it for their daily needs.