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Deserted Mall Road on Sunday
MUSSOORIE/NAINITAL: Tourist footfalls declined by as much as half in Mussoorie and Nainital this weekend as strict Covid-related checks kicked in. While hotel bookings were made mandatory last week to enter both hill stations, police teams also started thorough inspection of Covid- negative test reports.
Compared with the past few weekends when hotels in Mussoorie had recorded 100% occupancy, bookings nosedived to 40% to 50% this weekend. In Nainital, many top hotels had barely 20% occupancy on Sunday. Sandeep Sahni, president of Uttarakhand Hotels Association, told TOI tourist footfall had declined drastically by half in hill stations.
“A number of factors have contributed to the decline in tourist rush. The administration has become very strict and there has also been some negative publicity after a video of a large number of tourists taking a dip at Kempty Falls went viral. Heavy rainfall over the past week has also caused people to change trav
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Express News Service
DEHRADUN: Authorities in the picturesque Nainital have stopped at least 5,000 tourists from entering the hill station following the unavailability of parking space as well as their inability to produce Covid-negative RT-PCR reports, required as per safety guidelines.
Nainital’s Senior Superintendent of Police Preeti Priyadarshini said tourists coming to the hill station have registered a considerable spike amid an intensive heat wave in north India. But those who don’t have a Covid-negative report are not allowed in the lake town.
With thousands of people thronging to the hills to escape the sweltering heat of the plains, hotspots like Nainital and Mussoorie are jam-packed with no hotel rooms and parking spaces. According to the estimates of the state tourism department and police, more than 10,000 people visited Nainital and Mussoorie last weekend, the two most famous hill towns in Uttarakhand.