Tourist rush chokes hills in Uttarakhand, Himachal

A huge rush of tourists from different parts of the country to spend the new year has choked the hills in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Almost all the hotels and resorts have been completely booked and the authorities were not allowing tourists into famous hill stations like Nainital, Mussoorie in Uttarakhand and Shimla, Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

The serpentine roads leading to the hill stations witnesses massive traffic jams owing to large scale arrival of the tourists in these places.

At mant places the tourists had to spend several hours in their vehicles following the jam, officials said.

Though the rush of the tourists to the hill stations has brought smile on the faces of the local traders, travel companies as well as the home stay owners, it also resulted in litters at these places.

Some locals said that there was an urgent need to regulate the tourist traffic.

The tariff of the hotels and resorts have gone through the roof. The charges have more than doubled since Christmas holidays.

The officials said that the crowd of the tourists will start thinning after January 2.