Himachal Hotel & Restaurant Association seeks increasing frequency of air flights to Shimla
Himachal Pradesh Hotel and Restaurant Association demanded an increasing frequency of air flights to the Tourist resort Shimla keeping the shutdown of Transport on National Highway-5 during the rainy season.
In a press statement issued here today President of HPH&RA Mr Mahinder Seth said that there is an urgent need to increase Air connectivity to facilitate Tourists intending to come to Shimla.
Presently there are only two flights operating between Chandigarh and Shimla -an ATR-42 Aircraft of Alliance Airways and an 18-seater chopper of Pawan Hans.
Both flights are able to take off at only half of their seating capacity due to turbulence issues. There is a need to increase the number of flights a day.
A large number of tourists come from Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi during the weekend. The Heli taxi service needs to be operated between important places of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttrakhand like Ludhiana, Jallander, Amritsar, Patiala, Dheradun, and similarly from important cities of Haryana.
This will help in boosting tourism arrival and increase the occupancy in the hotels. The present Air fares need to be highly subsidized for at least two years by the time the Highways of himachal are fully restored.
We urge the state Government to take up the matter with the Ministry of Civil Aviation at the center to subsidize the Air fares for the flights connecting Shimla, Kangra, and Kullu and to increase the number of flights a day from Delhi.
The Heli taxi service may be introduced from important towns of Punjab and Haryana to increase the inflow of tourists. Tourism is the backbone of the economy of Himachal Pradesh, every effort needs to be made to boost tourism. This helps in improving the financial health of stakeholders and will increase the Government Exchequer.
There is a need to increase connectivity to Shimla by introducing Volvo Bus service from Shimla to important cities of Punjab Haryana and Uttarakhand. The introduction of a Volvo bus service between Ludhiana, Jallander, Amritsar, Patiala, and Dheradun will boost the inflow of tourists and also decrease the load of vehicular traffic.
