Director Tourism HP , invited Hoteliers panel for discussion to find ways to open industry

5 Dariya News(Arvind Sharma)

Dharamshala 18-Jun-2020

Sanjeev  Gandhi, State Co-Convener the  Federation of Hotel and Restaurants Association of  Himachal (FOHRA ) has informed  at Dharmshala on Thursday that , Department of Tourism, Himachal has accepted their  team to finalize SOP guidelines to open the Tourism industry in the state. “ Director Tourism & civil aviation HP has sent a letter to FOHRA inviting its proposed panel for a video conference on the said matter on 26 June,”said Gandhi.  He further said, “  We are  glad to share that one of our key requests, which we are raising to the State Govt to involve us in the formation of the Tourism  Policies is getting noticed.” Earlier this month the  Federation of Hotel and Restaurants Association of  Himachal (FOHRA ) has written a letter to Sh Devesh Kumar  Secretary,Tourism & Civil Aviation, Govt of Himachal Pradesh, rejecting governments offer to open Hotels etc and informing him about the formation  of an experts  panel by FOHRA to streamline the SOP guidelines .

Sanjeev  Gandhi, informed that  in its letter FOHRA said, “In our continued efforts to re-open the tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh, it is important to streamline the standard operating procedures (SOP) those are mutually convenient to both tourism stakeholders and the Govt of Himachal Pradesh." It has suggested the government about a  fifteen member panel, including highly experienced hoteliers from Dharamshala, Manali, Shimla, Dalhousie, Chamba, Kasouli,Khajiyaar, Mandi and Bilaspur. Before that in the first week of June the government of HP  allowed the hospitality industry to re start from  8 th June.  Hoteliers in HP  said “no” to the government to open the industry  under  the  very strict government’s advisory, and  conveyed industry's  decision not to open the hotels, home-stay units and resorts and refused to accept the proposal of the tourism department to re-start operations from June 8. The members of the hotel association also  alleged that the government was trying to shift the entire burden of containing the corona virus on the distressed hotel industry and also asking them to re-start the operations.