“White Merry Christmas” eluded the corona restriction-weary revellers from across India. They still continue to turn uphill to seek solace in open airs of Manali, Shimla and other hill stations, giving a much-needed "booster dose to lean tourism industry" of Himachal Pradesh, India’s first cent per cent vaccinated state of its adult population. But Lahaul valley remained in deep freeze, with locks hanging on hotel doors.
The hoteliers in Manali and Shimla are in rebounding mode as the tourism industry gets a booster dose with better arrivals of tourists after a long lean summer season.
But their brothers on the other side of the north portal of Atal Rohtang tunnel are not lucky. They have more or less shut down their hotels due to the freezing of water supplies in Lahaul valley.
The hoteliers in Manali and Shimla had a sigh of relief. The revellers including family tourists remained unfazed by restrictions and chose Himachal to celebrate Merry Christmas in open hill space, with snowclad Himalayan peaks lurking from the distant horizons.
“After lean months of tourist arrivals, tourism is now in a recovery mode as hotels in Manali are almost packed and we are booked for the Christmas and New Year celebrations”, said Nakul Khullar, a renowned hotelier and orchardist, who runs his premium Baragarh starred resort near historic Naggar in Manali. “Good signs are that the tourists instead of travelling abroad are now turning to Manali where they enjoy the same facilities and better views of snowclad mountains and the gushing white waters of the river Beas”, he said.
In capital city of Shimla, Merry Christmas revellers mainly youngsters from Chandigarh, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana and other states throng The Mall and The Ridge. The believer visit the Christ church on The Ridge and sang carols, while Santa Claus was seen giving gifts of candies and toffees to children on the way in a goodwill gesture.
The hoteliers say Shimla is not as packed as it used to be in normal Merry Christmas and New Year in the past. But the occupancy looks up after hit badly by the corona pandemic lockdowns. It was about 70 to 80 per cent, they say.
The tourists zipped uphill to Kufri, Galu, Chail, Fagu, Tattapani Hot spas, Theog, Narkanda ski resort, Kotgarh and Thanedar, Baghi and Ratnari, Kharapathar, Jubbal Hatkoti, and Khirki and Chopal and as far as Sarahan and Kinnaur.
In Manali the revellers throng The Mall, Naggar and Solang ski resort and uphill to the north portal of Atal Rohtang Tunnel to get glimpse of snowclad Lahaul valley currently reeling under a big winter chill.
The tourists were not lucky to travel further from north portal at Sissu as the hoteliers have shut town their units in Lahaul due to the freezing of the water supplies due to frigid temperatures, which have already hit a low of – 15 degree Centigrade.
“It is a day long struggle to fetch even a good pale of water in Keylong, the district headquater of Lahaul-Spiti”, said local residents. The water sources and supply to homes and hotels have frozen as the temperatures has dipped to -10 degree Centigrade to -13 degree Centigrade for the last one week in the landlocked valley, they said.
After a complete lean season last year, the hoteliers in all hill stations including Shimla, Dharamshala, Dalhousie, Manali are hoping for a good season. Christmas and New Year revellers and other tourists have been zeroing in on tourist towns with the bookings looking up. But it will not be as good partly due to fresh coronavirus fears in the country and the fresh restrictions imposed on celebrations and large gatherings by Centre today.
Delhi and other places in the country have banned Christmas and New Year celebrations in view of a surge in Omicron variant cases. But no case was reported in Himachal so far.
So far the arrivals are good. The occupancy rates in hotels averaged around 70 per cent around Christmas and would be same around New Year, said Mukesh Thakur, president, Manali hoteliers’ association. The bed capacity has gone up as number of home stays and guest houses has increased over the years in Manali, he said.
But the scene at the other side of the Atal Rohtang tunnel is different- it is literally “icy and bone-chilling”. The tourists are making a beeline for the north portal, a window to Lahaul valley. But barring a few dare-devil nature lovers, the tourists are evading the Lahaul valley for an overnight or day long stay as there is not even a single hotel in Lahaul which offers central heating system and most hotels have been shut, said the hoteliers.
Hoteliers were hoping for a tourism boom due to an all-weather connectivity to Lahaul valley after the opening of Atal Rohtang tunnel ended its history-long isolation from the rest of the world in winter months.
Last year, it was the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic that shut the entire country and hit tourism industry badly till recent months. Even now, tourism industry has yet to come out from the shock, with the hoteliers still reeling under a steep slowdown in business, they said.
But the icy winds and freezing cold that sweep the snowclad Lahaul valley have rendered them helpless. The scarcity of water, power cuts, and lack of central heating system, which is beyond the reach of hoteliers, continue to dash their hopes as infrastructure to beat the big winter chill remains a pipedream.
The “historic hole in towering snowclad Rohtang mountain” has yet to usher in a blessing for Lahaulis who have opened their homestays, guesthouses and hotels in a big way with a hope that Atal tunnel will be a harbinger of winter tourism in Lahaul. But most of tourist choose to go back to Manali the same day after visiting Koksar or so even during this summer, what to talk about winter, said the hoteliers
The frozen water sources and pipelines that start melting in the afternoon due to sun heat refreeze by the evening. This vicious cycle is going on for the last one week that has made a pale of water a highly prized commodity for residents in the snowbound Lahaul valley these days, said Norbu, a resident of Lahaul.
In winter months, water remains a big problem in Lahaul as the water sources and water pipelines freeze. “The water supply is not done in insulated pipes as is the case in many snowbound countries in Europe, said Tashi Harpa, president of Lahaul-Spiti hoteliers’ association.
The hoteliers have no option other than shutting down their units. Most of the catering staff leave the valley in winter months as there is virtually no business in winter here, Tashi said. “But the hoteliers keep two rooms or three rooms open for convenience of the tourists, who dare to face odds and insist on visiting places like Shashin, Keylong, Jispa and Udaipur in winter so that they find no problem”, he said.
Not only this, the driving and travelling on the icy layer of road also needs an experience and skills of driving. Most tourists are avoiding taking risk traveling beyond north portal at Sissu. Most tourists from the plains lack this, said the policemen, who keep on struggling escorting the stranded tourist vehicles during the snow season.
Lahaul-Spiti district administration has allowed the traffic from north portal of Atal Rohtang tunnel on Manali- Keylong stretch of Manali-Leh national highway till Jispa and Darcha from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm daily.
“We are allowing the tourists to Lahaul from north portal of Atal Rohtang Tunnel, who have confirmed booking in Lahaul” said Neeraj Kumar, district magistrate, Lahaul-Spiti. “There is no restriction on plying of traffic from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm in Lahaul these days”, he said.
Neeraj Kumar said the main problem is water as the water sources and water supplies have frozen due to the freezing temperatures. Water is being supplied in the afternoon, but the supply refreezes by the evening due to extreme drop in temperature, he added.
The water is freezing in Keylong and Udaipur towns, which are the warmest by Lahauli standards, but in Chandra, Darcha and Jispa valleys the scene is even more freezing, said locals. The Chandra valley gets more snow and is chillier, said Himaal Thakur.
(Kuldeep Chauhan is Editor, Himbumail)
