Manali:Blame it on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections or the continuing IPL, hoteliers here are a worried lot. Summers are almost knocking at the door and advance hotel booking for the summer tourist season is still to begin. Peak summer tourist season in Himachal begins in mid-April and lasts till June end. As most hotels remain fully occupied during this duration, most of the tourists prefer booking hotels in advance. This year most of the hotels are complaining about the lack of booking. Most people in the business believe that the demand for the bookings will probably increase after May 23once the results of the elections are announced.Ludar Chand, a hotelier admitted that he was receiving very less advance booking in comparison to that of last year. “90 per cent of our clients come via online booking. Summer season is starting next month but there is almost no booking. Cricket matches put a negative impact on tourism as cricket lovers like to be in front of TV screens only. Our booking agents have said that bookings will remain slow during elections as well.’’ Another hotelier Surender Maheshwari said, “This is the condition of almost all hoteliers in Himachal. Very few enquiries are pouring in. We get two and a half months to earn money. We hope June will bring us good business.”Hoteliers were hoping that the disturbances in Kashmir will divert tourists to Manali but on the contrary, these two reasons have impacted the business badly. The hoteliers were also hoping that because Manali had received a good snowfall the demand for visiting Manali and around would be more. This year, tourists will get to see snow in the entire summer season. Hoteliers still believe that a record number of tourists will visit the state, especially in June and hope they would make up for the lost out business.

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