Winter8217;s tale

8216;8216;The tourism sector had done well in summer and we were expecting a good winter season too. But things are not going right because there8217;s no snow,8217;8217; says M.K. Seth, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, Shimla. He adds that about 45,000 tourists had come to the town on New Year8217;s eve in hope of a white winter. 8216;8216;But they returned home disappointed,8217;8217; he says.

There are about 3,000 small and big hotels in Himachal Pradesh and over ten lakh people are involved in this sector.

Raman Khanna, a spokesperson for the Oberoi chain of hotels, said occupancy had been hit this winter. The impact on the industry, he said, would be irreversible as the past month witnessed many cancellations.

Hoteliers are not the only ones worried. Weather experts too are concerned. M.P. Bharadwaj, Associate Director, Regional Research Centre of the Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, cites global warming as the cause of these unusual weather conditions.

A look at the records of the past ten years, he says, show how unusual it is for Shimla not get any snow till this late in January. Weather forecast shows no signs of snow in the coming four or five days too.