Taking cues from the government of other states like Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, hoteliers in Parvati Valley of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district have finally decided to reopen their hotels from September 15th, and to top it off they are offering 50% discount to attract tourists.
This effort by the hoteliers is done to revamp and re-energize the tourism sector which has been suffering since the past six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, which hasn’t helped the cause of the hoteliers to earn some livelihood.
According to Kishan Thakur, president of the Manikaran Hotel Association told the sources that around 300 hotels and homestays will be reopened for tourists and all the necessary arrangements are being made by the hoteliers. All the hotels and homestays would be operated as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the government, and tourists would have to provide a compulsory COVID-19 negative report before staying in the hotels/homestays.
Hoteliers of the Parvati and Manikaran Valley have also demanded the state government to let the tourists enter without a state pass and also open a bank in Kasol to ease financial transactions and needs. They have also made a suggestion to the state government to start the operations of deluxe and luxury buses to Kullu-Manali from Chandigarh, Delhi, Shimla and Dehradun to ease travel for tourists. Hotels and homestays of Jibhi and Tirthan Valley have already been opened for tourists since September 5.