Don’t come to the hills, the hills are not calling,” you may have seen posts like these on social media, highlighting the overcrowding at popular hill stations such as Manali, Shimla, Nainital, and Mussoorie. With summer vacations and rising temperatures, the demand for travel to hill stations has surged. As a result, most spots are dealing with overbooked hotels, high demand for taxis, and heavy traffic. Tourists are either forced to seek alternatives or advised by travel agents to opt for less crowded destinations.
‘Many travellers are deciding to change destination mid-way’
Travel agents reveal how guests have had to return or change destinations mid-way, as they could not find accommodation or were stuck in traffic for hours. “Last weekend I had guests travelling from Delhi to Rishikesh, but after reaching Haridwar, they were stuck in a long traffic jam and getting stuck in this heat with children is not an ideal start of summer holidays. To avoid the crowd, they decided to return midway and travelled to McLeod Ganj and some other areas in Himachal,” says Saurabh Tiwari, founder of a Delhi-based travel company.
Impromptu holiday plans may not be a good idea around this time of the year as hotels are fully booked. “I travelled to Srinagar last week and could not find even a single occupancy room in any of the budget hotels. Hotel tariffs were almost 50 per cent higher. I decided to travel to Pahalgam and managed to find a hotel in my budget. Locals said that Gulmarg and Sonmarg are as crowded as Srinagar,” says Mehak Khanna, Mumbai-based marketing consultant.
Increasing footfall in offbeat paces too
Many travellers are already choosing these alternative destinations, resulting in an increase in footfall here too. “In retreats such as Kausani, occupancies have risen by 10 per cent . Our property in Ramgarh has achieved an average occupancy rate of 65 per cent , while Bhimtal has been in high demand with an 80 per cent occupancy rate. Similarly, the recently launched property in Naukuchiatal is experiencing a 60 per cent occupancy rate. This surge in demand is largely due to the soaring temperatures across north India,” shares Shahzad Aslam, Head of Sales, Leisure Hotels Group.
“We’ve observed a significant increase in occupancy rates this year. In May and June, we are seeing 40-50 per cent occupancy, compared to 20-30 per cent last year. All our locations are actually offbeat destinations, such as Chamera Lake, Bhogpur, Taraari,” shares Devendra Parulekar, founder of Saffronstays.
“Travellers who prefer slow, more qualitative holidays look for elusive, off the grid destinations like ours and definitely the number of such travellers has increased,” says Aparupa Ray Ganguly, owner of two boutique homestay accommodations near Nainital.
According to MakeMyTrip’s summer travel trends, the family travel segment has grown by 20 per cent this year, as compared to the summer of 2023, while solo travel grew by 10 per cent over last year’s numbers. In terms of most booked holiday packages this summer, destinations with cool mountain terrains are the top picks with Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Goa, Kerala and the North East emerging as most sought after places.
High airfare leads to increase in demand for taxis
Gautam Kumar, owner of a Delhi-based travel company says that due to high airfares, many are preferring to hire taxis. “Return airfare for Srinagar at present is around Rs 20,000 per person, so most families are travelling by road. All our taxis are fully booked,” he says.
Sagar Choudhary, who runs a transport agency in Delhi, adds, “Travellers are well aware of the crowd at hill stations and they are still willing to travel. All our taxis are booked and some people even say, ‘driver hi de do, itni garmi aur traffic mein kaun drive karega!’”Alternative destinations
- Instead of Shimla, go to Mashobra, Narkanda
- Instead of Manali, choose Jibhi, Tirthan Valley
- In Uttarakhand, go to Lansdowne, Kausani, Chakrata, Pangot, Mukteshwar, Bhimtal
- In Kashmir, all tourist destinations are equally crowded, but one can look at Gurez Valley
– Inputs by Gautam Kumar, owner of a Delhi-based travel company
