Shimla out of water, may run out of tourists, too, this summer

NEW DELHI: An acute water crisis has impacted tourist flow into Shimla, one of the most popular summer destinations often referred to as the ‘queen of the hills’. Flights and hotel bookings for Shimla are down by about 30% compared to last year in light of the worst-ever water crisis plaguing the city, according to travel operators and portals. They warn that the trend may continue through these summer holidays.

“There is water shortage in Shimla every year but this time it is more pronounced because of a number of issues,” said Garish Oberoi, president of Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). “I hope there is some improvement otherwise this season will prove to be lethal for Shimla,” he said. Oberoi blamed it mainly on poor rainfall and the government’s lack of preparedness.

“The hoteliers there have been buying water from private vendors, but even that supply is not available now,” he said. “The crisis has deepened and most hotels do not have access to water. It is severely impacting the business and they have seen major cancellations.”

As per reports, against a daily water requirement of about 44 million litres per day, Shimla’s supplies fell as low as 18 million litres per day last week. The severe crisis has led the state administration to shut schools in the popular hill station with the supply shortage triggering city-wide protests and residents urging tourists to stop visiting Shimla.

On travel portal BigBreaks.com, flights and hotel bookings for the destination are down by 30-35% owing to the water crisis. “One will understand the intensity of the situation if on Mall Road,” said Kapil Goswamy, chairman at BigBreaks.com.

He said Shimla’s busiest marketplace looks almost desolate. “Visitors to Shimla have been growing since 2012 because low budget trips are a dime and dozen these days. However, this year the situation is different,” Goswamy said. Ankit Rastogi, VP, hotels at Cleartrip, said the travel portal has observed a 17% drop in bookings to Shimla this season compared to previous years. “The bookings have been affected since the second week of May,” he said.

Shimla is a popular hill station and attracts a considerable number of tourists year round, Rastogi said. It also gets a lot of weekend traffic from Chandigarh and Delhi. Sanjay Sood, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India who also owns a hotel and restaurant in Shimla, said as per industry estimates, tourist numbers have halved this season. Sharat Dhall, COO, B2C, at Yatra.com, said people are more circumspect with regards to future travel to the city.

Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur held a meeting with senior officers of the state government on Monday to review the situation and has directed that water should be distributed strictly according to the scheduled time table. He also directed the officers to ensure effective checking of water losses due to leakages.