Shimla expects one lakh tourist footfall for New Year

An estimated 80,000 to 1 lakh tourists are likely to visit Shimla for New Year celebrations. Nearly 1.5 lakh tourists enjoyed the scenic beauty of the state capital on Christmas which has been an emboldening factor for the tourism in the state that is trying to recover from the monsoon disaster.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): Shimla seems to be regaining ground as a tourist hub. Tourists avoided Himachal Pradesh in the wake of the landslides that wreaked havoc. However, things are getting back to normal. Nearly 1.5 lakh tourists visited Shimla on Christmas and around 80,000 to 1 lakh are expected for New Year celebrations, a senior police officer said.

On the pattern of Christmas and winter carnivals, we will manage the same for December 31. We had nearly 1.5 lakh tourists on Christmas and we are expecting 80,000 to one lakh people and nearly 2,50,000 vehicles on year-end, Shimla Superintendent of Police, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said.

"In Shimla, during the past 10 to 11 days, we have recorded 1,60,000 vehicle movements through the Shoghi Barrier. We have nearly 3 lakh locals, and we are also welcoming tourists. We have planned a one-minute traffic plan as per our potential and the results are positive and on the internal road we have allowed free movement," he added.

Shimla SP further informed that the department is monitoring the traffic with CCTV and drone. We have made arrangements at the main tourist points in Shimla, the Ridge, Kufri, Narkanda and other places. We have CCTV and drone monitoring for both traffic conjunction and also the human movements. We are trying to ensure security, safety and traffic arrangements, and we are guiding the tourists also, he said.", "The tourists are rushing for winter carnival and New Year celebrations in the hills here in Himachal Pradesh.

This new year we have come here with the hope of snowfall. The mountain view is very good. Due to the tourist inflow, it is taking a long but we are enjoying it, Gulshan, a tourist from Noida said. The tourists also said that due to overcrowding, hotels are charging three times higher. We faced problems in getting hotels due to the tourist rush here.

It was disappointing that we got three times higher prices of the hotels. We enjoyed it and we are exploring more stations here, Anchal, a tourist from UP said.

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