Dragon boat, paragliding festival to pull tourists in Dalhousie and Chamba

Times Of India

In a major boost to the tourism industry in Dalhousie and Chamba after Covid lockdown, the authorities are organising a three-day dragon boat festival and paragliding festival. The administration hopes that both these events would help in attracting tourists in the region. While talking to TOI on Thursday, deputy commissioner Chamba, DC Rana informed that they have planned to hold a three-day dragon boat festival in Chamera lake at Taleru and a three-day paragliding event at Khajjiar, near Dalhousie in the month of October. "The idea behind organising these festivals is to attract tourists and bring back some enthusiasm among people connected to tourism industry in the region," said Rana. Besides creating a regional identity of these far-off exotic but less frequented places of Chamba district by tourists, the events would also prove to be helpful in supporting the local economy and creating job opportunities. About the paragliding festival, he informed that the administration had notified a few paragliding sites in Khajjiar which was already visited by a large number of tourists who visit Dalhousie. Reacting to the initiatives taken by the Chamba administration to attract tourists, Ashish who runs a hotel in Dalhousie said both the festivals were the encouraging for the business of tourism which was already facing sharply falling revenues and losses. He, however, opined that government should give them immediate relief by way of beginning the unlocking process, doing away with the e-pass system allowing tourists to visit Dalhousie who had taken the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, etc.