Shimla : The hotels at popular tourist destinations like Shimla, Khajiar, Dalhousie, Manali, Chail, Kasauli etc. had registered 90% occupancy during last week. This was disclosed here by Dr. Arun Sharma, Director, Tourism Department. He said that keeping in view the rising mercury level in the plains, tourists were flocking to the hill stations of the State.Dr. Sharma said that there was an increase in the number of tourists visiting the State in the first quarter of this year. Till April this year, 51.49 lakh tourists out of which 50.30 lakh were domestic tourists and 1.19 lakh foreign tourists visited Himachal, said he. Counting Shimla, Kullu, Kangra as the first preference of tourists, he said that 9.25 lakh, 10 lakh and 7.15 lakh tourists visited Kullu, Shimla and Kangra districts respectively.
Dr. Sharma said that during the previous year, 1.32 crore tourists had visited the State and added that 300 new hotels were registered during the same period. He said that the Tourism Development Department had offered special packages for the tourist circuits of Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala. Keeping in view the rush of tourists, five Volvo buses were being run daily to Manali, Shimla and Dharamsala, said he.