Written by: Nainu Rohtaki
3 min readKasauliSep 11, 2023 05:00 AM IST
First published on: Sep 11, 2023 at 05:00 AM IST
Once robbed of its crowd, the small hill station of Kasauli has come back to life with most of the hotels fully occupied and tourists thronging the old Kasauli Heritage Market once again this weekend.
While some have attributed the revival of tourism to the G20 Summit in New Delhi, others say it’s the result of the monsoon going into a weak phase.
Kasauli being the nearest hill station is visited by thousands of tourists from the Tricity and places like New Delhi and Noida on a daily basis. However, there were no takers for this tourist hotspot recently, thanks to the incessant rain that took Himachal Pradesh by storm.
The hill station wore a deserted look with few visitors thronging the place. While hotels and shopkeepers were hit hard financially, some of them had to shut up shop at the Kasauli Heritage Market. The tourism industry was in dire financial straits.
“Kasauli is back to life with most of the hotels fully occupied and the hustle and bustle returning to the roads. Our hotel saw100% booking this weekend with around 70% guests from New Delhi. This was due to the long weekend because of the G20 Summit. We hope the tourism industry in Kasauli is back on track after getting into deep water and we will not have to see empty hotels and deserted streets again,” says Sanjeev Kumar, the manager of hotel The Chateau.
Similar views were echoed by a staff member of Kasauli Regency, Rohini, who said, “Our hotel is completely booked. We have most of our guests coming in from New Delhi. We hope the inflow of tourists will continue now.”
Rajender Chopra – president of the Kasauli Hotels and Welfare Association, and owner of a hotel in Kasauli – said, “Most of the guests and tourists this weekend were from New Delhi and Noida. Though the various hotels are offering attractive discounts owing to the heavy rush on weekends, the discounts are mainly during the weekdays only now. Most of the tourists are coming in groups of families. With the G20 Summit in the Capital, the long weekend prompted tourists to throng Kasauli more than any other tourist place. For a resident of Delhi, travelling to Goa or any other tourist destination requires a minimum of four to five days. But Kasauli being close to Delhi with a travel time of hardly 5 hours, it was the most sought-after destination.”
The hill station is buzzing with activity, and there is heavy traffic on the roads with parking lots filled to capacity, he added.
Talking to The Indian Express, Sahil Verma, a tourist from New Delhi, said, “We were aware of the strict traffic restrictions in Delhi owing to the G20 Summit. Also, the weather right now is quite warm and humid. The long weekend in Delhi too was an added advantage. So, this was the right time to be in this hill station with our families. We are a group of five families that have come here this weekend.”
Verma added, “While the condition of the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway still needs to be improved, it is good enough to travel to spend a cool and pleasant weekend here, away from the pollution and busy world of New Delhi.”
Hustle and Bustle: Several tourists at Heritage Market in Kasauli. (Express File Photo) 
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