Hoteliers fleece stranded tourists

Visitors say they were charged 5% higher price

HARIPUR:

Tourists visiting the upper parts of the Hazara division have complained that they had to face a lot of issues including overcharging by hoteliers and traffic congestion on Eidul Azha holidays.

They said that hotel and hut owners took full advantage of the state of affairs after an influx of tourists made their way to the northern parts of the country to enjoy Eid holidays only to be overcharged by hoteliers as, according to them, no mechanism has been put in place by the government to check the prices.

According to them, the influx of tourists from all across the country during Eid holidays also led to traffic jams on Mansehra, Naran, Murree, Abbottabad and Nathiagali roads which remained blocked for hours and thousands of tourists stranded.

On Eid days, petrol pumps also remained closed in most tourist areas owing to the shortage of petrol and diesel as hundreds of thousands of tourists drove to Nathia Gali, Ayubia, Naran, Shugaran and Kagan

The Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) and Abbottabad traffic police had claimed to have made all arrangements to facilitate the tourists, however, most tourists said that their visit turned out to be nightmarish.

Waqas, a young tourist who had recently returned from Turkey after three years to celebrate Eid with his family in Pakistan, said that it took him and his family 14 hours to reach Naran from Mansehra because of poor road infrastructure and heavy traffic.

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Another tourist, Saifullah from Haripur, said that he had left for Naran at 2 pm with his family on the second day of Eid and they reached there at around 2 am. “The three-hour journey stretched over to twelve hours due to traffic jams,” he said, adding that tourists also had to face increased fare and rent in Naran. He said that several tourists could not afford to book a room while hoteliers demanded exorbitant prices ranging between Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 per night stay for a single room.

He said that they had no choice but to spend the night on the roadside in a tent. He said that the owner charged Rs3,000 from them.

Usually, hoteliers charge from Rs5,000 for a room but in the peak season, they jack up the prices many fold with impunity as there is no mechanism in place to monitor and check prices.

Tourists also complained that there were long queues at petrol pumps as several vehicles ran out of gas due to traffic jams and at certain points, people sold petrol for Rs500 per litre. The tourists also said that mechanic shops on the way were also almost non-existent as many vehicles broke down in the middle of the single-lane road, disrupting the traffic flow.

The tourists said that besides widening the roads, the government should also devise a policy to deal with money minters. According to the Hazara police, since the onset of the summer, 700,000 vehicles entered the valley so far as compared to 500,000 vehicles last year.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Department General Manager Muhammad Ali said that the provincial government has taken significant steps to promote tourism across the province and more people are coming to visit tourist spots having better facilities.

He said that this year, many local and foreign tourists visited the mountainous region and “facing minor issues by the tourists were a natural phenomenon”.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2021.