Aspiring to develop new destinations, the Himachal Pradesh government is focusing on infrastructure, mainly better connectivity, to improve the state's s standing as a preferred tourism destination.
Talking to reporters, Major Vijay Singh Mankotia, vice-chairman of the tourism development board, said, "because of its scenic locations, our state holds immense opportunities but poor accessibility is the biggest bottleneck in developing tourism." There are no good roads, no reliable air connectivity and practically there is no railway network, he said. There are no flights for Shimla as the airport is under repair, only one flight to Kullu, which has a capacity of handling five flights in a day, and only two flights for Dharamsala (Gaggal airport), he said.
He added that plans of starting heli-taxi services has been drawn up, new destinations in Rajgarh-Haripurdhar-Churdhar, Pabbar Valley-Chansal peak, Jhatingri-Barot-Bir-Billing would be promoted but to promote tourism the most emphasis would be on improving roads.
The state's unique selling point (USP) remains the Himalayas and the sheltered scenic locations that we have and trade specialists - travel agents and tour operators - would be approached to gain a better tourism share for Himachal, said Mankotia.
Speaking about the recently held tourism development board meeting that was chaired by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he said that concern was expressed at the unplanned growth in Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala that was turning into a liability for tourism.
Civic amenities are simply not keeping pace with the growth in tourism, he said, while mentioning that all residents and tourists faced huge traffic jams in these destinations and during peak seasons, water shortage was the order of the day.
With several Shaktipeeth temples like Naina Devi, Brijeshwari Devi (Kangra), Chintpurni and Jwalamukhi in Himachal, the vice-chairman said that linking it to a inter-state circuit terminating at Vaishno Devi temple in Jammu held vast pilgrimage tourism potential.
Another area of focus would be a Buddhist circuit, which involved Kinnaur, lahaul-Spiti and ladakh. "This could develop as a Himalayan triangle circuit just like Delhi Agra Jaipur golden triangle circuit," said Mankotia.
Presently the state was implementing a tourism project being funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and project worth Rs 198 cr needed to be executed by June 2017. The second tranche of the Rs 570 cr project would only be released after showing progress in implementing the project's first phase. Constructing multi-storey parking spaces, developing wayside amenities and beautification of the Mall Road and renovation of Town Hall Shimla were part of this project, stated Mankotia.