M A I N   N E W S

Tourists wait for the snow
HP hotels bursting at the seams
From S. P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Dec 30 — There is a sudden rush of New Year revellers in all tourist destinations of the state where most of the hotels which have offered special packages for the eve are packed to capacity. All eyes are set towards the sky which started getting cloudy this morning. Most of the tourists have come here in the hope of celebrating the new year in snow, but they might have to remain disappointed as there was not much possibility of the weather god obliging them.

Tourists in Shimla throng The Ridge on Saturday as clouds appear in the skies. They are hopeful of a snowfall on New Year's Eve.

Inquiries revealed that almost all hotels were fully booked in Shimla, Chail, Barog, Parwanoo, Manali, Palampur and Dharamsala. Hoteliers at Dalhousie were also expecting a good rush from the neighbouring areas of Jammu, Amritsar, Pathankot and Jalandhar. Most of the hotels have arranged live orchestras with dancing floor and a gala dinner with drinks.

The atmosphere here is festive with The Ridge and The Mall flooded with tourists. Hotels and restaurants in the town are being lit. The tourists are waiting for midnight tomorrow when they will gather at the Ridge to greet the new year with crackers.

Young ones from the neighbouring Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Ambala are in a jubilant mood and can be seen dancing at The Ridge in groups.

The tourists were facing the problem of parking their vehicles as there were constraints of space in the parking lots. Some tourists complained that they were put to harassment as their vehicles parked on the Cart Road were towed away by the police crane. One has to be careful of the labourers at the railway station and the bus stands who were fleecing the tourists.

Most of the trains from Kalka were coming here fully loaded with the new year crowd.

The Area Manager of the leading hotel Holiday Home of the HPTDC here, Mr Yogesh Behal, said the hotel was fully packed by New Year’s Eve revellers from Punjab, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana and Bombay. The Rs-7000 package of the hotel offers unlimited food and drinks to a couple.

Clarkes Hotel has priced its three-night package at Rs18,000 per couple. Cecil Hotel has restricted the celebrations only to its inhouse clients.

Mr Harnam Kukreja, vice-president of the H.P. Hotel and Restaurants Association, said he was expecting a good rush as his own hotel was 70 per cent booked at present. Most of the hotels in the town were full to capacity.

All rooms in Shilon Resort on the Kufri road are sold out for the New Year’s Eve as a Rs 7000 package per couple has been offered there with live band and dance competition.