Recurring landslides around Nainital scare tourists, hotel bookings drop | Dehradun News

Nainital: Several incidents of landslides and road collapses around Nainital have scared tourists who had made reservations to visit the lake town in the coming weeks. Hotel bookings, which exceeded 70-80% just a few days ago, have fallen to less than 20%.
According to local hoteliers, in recent days they have received calls from tourists asking if the roads leading into the city were blocked and if there was a risk of a major landslide.
As TOI reported, as part of the road leading to the governor’s house in Lake Town collapsed last month, cracks appeared on the Bhowali-Nainital highway soon after and several roads secondary also collapsed.
“However, the most striking footage was footage from the Bhowali road where a bus narrowly escaped a major landslide. As soon as the video was shared online and released by national media, we started. to receive frantic calls from tourists, ”said Ved Sah, secretary of the association of hotels and restaurants in Nainital.
District administration officials say the Bhowali road has yet to be cleared while half a dozen other rural roads in the city are still blocked.
“The Independence Day weekend was a lull. Last weekend there were hardly any tourists either. The situation looks also gloomy in the coming days. There is obviously panic among the tourists and their calls and booking cancellations prove it, ”said Sah, adding that he had tried to explain to visitors that the town of Nainital had not experienced any major landslides. .
Another hotelier said he hopes the roads will be cleared soon and that a message is sent to tourists so the losses can be recouped. “We can understand the panic, but after almost a year tourists have started to come back to the city. Now experts are talking about a possible third wave of Covid. So, we really hope that the roads will be cleared and that tourists can visit the city before any new wave, ”said Vinesh Joshi, the hotelier.
The district administration, meanwhile, said the Bhowali highway will soon be cleared and work on other rural roads is also underway.
“We have been working on the highways since Friday. It will soon be deleted. Our staff are also working with equipment on other routes, ”said an official.