With plains sizzling, holidaymakers rush to Himachal for long weekend

Shimla, April 14 Amid a decline in Covid-19 cases and to escape the early setting of scorching heat in plains, hordes of holidaymakers converged across destinations in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday, the first day of the onset of a long weekend that lasts till April 17.

As per the hospitality industry, the state capital and its nearby picnic spots have been geared up to play host to over 50,000 tourists in the extended four-day weekend.

Keeping in mind to set cash registers ringing, several private hoteliers in prominent destinations like Shimla, Kufri, Manali, Dharamsala, Palampur, Kasauli and Chail have hiked room tariffs.

Available information suggests a room fetching Rs 1,000 last year owing to the pandemic is sold off at Rs 5,000 a day in most of the hotels in Shimla, Kufri, Chail, Narkanda and Kasauli.

Apart from the weekend, Thursday is B.R. Ambedkar's birth anniversary and also festival of Baisakhi and the following day is Good Friday. So by combining this with the weekend, people could celebrate for four days at a stretch.

"Almost all our properties in Shimla and its nearby destinations like Chail, Kufri, Narkanda and Kasauli are packed to capacity till this weekend," a senior official with Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation