Snowfall brings cheers to hoteliers

Shimla: Bringing back its winter charm to Shimla – North India's popular hill destination, the snow kept its date on Sunday wrapping –up the town, its fashionable Mall road, the Ridge and fascinating Jakhu hill in a white blanket, much-awaited magic.

This was the first snowfall of the year after it failed to keep the date on Christmas and New Year eve, sending little disappointment to thousands of tourists, locals, and honeymoon couples.

The tourists already lodged in the town, in anticipation of the snow, were seen cheering and rejoicing the snowfall on the Ridge and posing for selfies to make the moments memorable.

"I arrived Shimla with friends on Friday to see the snowfall. There was little disappointment last evening but this morning my phone starting ringing suddenly. It was my hotel receptionist alerting us about snowfall. What an exciting time, you can imagine," said Rahul Bhatia, who works in Delhi with a multi-national company.

The news of the snowfall, which began this morning after light showers, brought cheers to the hotel industry with a fresh walk in and arrivals during the day. "Fresh snowfall, just in the beginning of January month, will bring a boom to the tourism industry. The desire of the tourists coming to Shimla to see snow will be fulfilled. The inflow of tourists is expected to increase in coming days," said Mohinder Seth, President, Tourism Industry Stakeholders Association, Shimla

He said the hotels and other stakeholders of the tourism industry are all set to provide a comfortable and memorable stay to the tourists coming to Shimla. The tourists will get an opportunity to enjoy skiing at Kufri and Narkanda apart from ice skating in Shimla.

Another world famous tourists resort of Manali, which had been experiencing heavy snow for past 24 hours, was in for a fresh spell simultaneously driving the snow revellers to major Himachal Pradesh towns. The Metrological station at Shimla had predicted snowfall and rains, three days back. "The town experienced 3 to 4 cm of snow on Sunday in Shimla and surrounding tourists destinations of Narkanda, Fagu, Kufri, and Narkanda," said an official of the Met office here. The state is expected to experience more snowfall and rain till January 11, baring break on Monday and Thursday as par Met forecast.

The snowfall brought some miseries also for the locals as National Highway was blocked at Kufri and Fagu due to snow.

Deputy Commissioner Shimla Amit Kashyap said, "It was a temporary thing as machinery and manpower was kept in full readiness for maintaining the basic services like roads, water, electricity, hospitals, and emergencies."

Meanwhile, the entire tribal belt of Lahaul-Spiti's, Kinnaur and Bharmour also shivered due to heavy snowfall and drop in the temperature. The Kinnaur's Kalpa had received 13 cm. It recorded a low of minus 3.8 degree Celsius.

The lower hills in Himachal Pradesh such as Dharamsala, Palampur, Solan, Nahan, Bilaspur, Una, Hamirpur, and Mandi were lashed with heavy rainfall, resulting in the mercury going down. Dharamsala recorded 21.88 mm of rainfall, which is the highest in the state so far. Popular ski resort Solang Valley, near Manali, has received 14-15 cm of snow.