Breakfast tourism in Himachal

The PHDCCI has urged the Himachal Pradesh government to emulate a unique environment-friendly "guest house tourism" model, successfully implemented in many European countries.

"Countries like Austria and Scotland maintain a very efficient 'bread and basket culture' for tourists. It involves financial and logistic support to help locals maintain homes with basic facilities and house tourists," Yashwinder Singh, resident officer, PHDCCI, told Business Standard recently.

"The model must be adopted in Himachal as it is highly successful in parts of Europe and has been a major source of income for the locals in small towns and the countryside," he added.

The chamber said the plan would also help in slowing down the damages caused in recent years by relentless construction of concrete structures and other haphazard structures in the hill state's major tourist resorts.

"Like Europe, 'bread and breakfast' accommodation should be listed, supervised, controlled, and advertised to local tourist information centres, so that tourists can stay in such budget locations. This would also help locals to generate money and preserve the environment," Singh said.

Citing the example of Paragpur in the Kangra valley as the first heritage village in the hill state, the PHDCCI has appealed to the state government to declare other deserving villages as heritage villages, and help in attracting tourists.

According to the chamber it would help in the creation of a much needed infrastructure in the villages and also offer the visitor a distinctive rural experience.