As many as 60,000 passengers boarding in a record 7515 vehicles, most of them New Year revellers from across the country crossed the Atal Rohtang Tunnel in 24 hours making their way to the snowclad Lahaul Valley.
This number of vehicles has breached all previous records. 7515 vehicles number crossing Atal tunnel is the highest ever recorded ever since the tunnel was opened for public by Prime Minister Narender Modi on October 3, 2020, revealed HP police.
As the five- day long winter carnival is in full swing, this stream of vehicles continued for the third day today. Over 3271 vehicles- 1819 from outside Himachal and 1452 with Himachal number- entered Lahaul valley from the north portal of Atal Tunnel today till 5.45 pm.
But the Hoteliers in Lahaul were not lucky as they could not harvest the "tourists boom" as most of the units were shut partially due to the frozen water supply. Out of 3271 vehicles only 360 vehicles were inside Lahaul till 545pm while some more could move back to Manali in later evening hours, said the police.
Out of 3271 vehicles as many as 2911 went back through the tunnel to Manali. Of this, 1573 were from outside the state while 1338 had Himachal number plate.
Only 360 vehicles stayed back in Lahaul till 545pm. Out of which 246 were from outside the state, rest of 114 carried Himachal number plate.
Many of them belong to local peoples. Effectively, 200 vehicles stayed back that means 800 to 1000 tourists might have stayed back in Lahaul valley on average, revealed the hoteliers.
In Manali the winter carnival also remained an attraction for the tourists. Slowly, tourism is back on track yet fresh Omicron curbs due to its surge in its cases in big cities has put Himachal’s hotel industry in fresh uncertainty.
The tourism industry has yet to recover from the losses it suffered due to the corona pandemic since March 2020 till recent months in 2021, said the hoteliers.
Deputy commissioner Lahaul-Spiti Neeraj Kumar said there was no fresh snowfall till late evening hours and movement of traffic was smooth. Lahaul also received a decent number of tourists around the new year and stream of vehicles continued to move in and move out from the valley, he said.
