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Declining snowfall and erratic weather are weakening Himachal Pradesh’s winter tourism economy.
Tourism workers who once relied on the winter season are facing reduced wages, job losses and seasonal migration.
Hotel staff, chefs, photographers, guides and small business owners say they are being forced to look for work in Goa, Leh-Ladakh and other destinations.
Experts say Himachal’s tourism policy must move beyond dependence on snow and support year-round, climate-resilient livelihoods.
The snow that once crowned the heights of the Himalayas, famously known as “white gold”, is slowly fading into memory. With it, the lives of those who built their livelihoods around winter tourism are changing too.
Shankar Rajput, who has been capturing tourists’ memories through his camera on Shimla’s Ridge ground for the past 48 years, said neither the mountains nor the weather are what they once were. “The snowfall, snow-capped peaks and meadows that once defined Shimla’s identity have disappeared,” he said.
In winters gone by, a thick white blanket of snow would cover Shimla itself. Now, tourists must travel nearly three hours from Shimla to the hills of Narkanda just to catch a glimpse of snow. The shrinking of these snow points has had a direct impact on the tourism economy, which is considered the backbone of Himachal Pradesh.
In Himachal, the weather has begun to decide whether tourism will thrive or falter, whether hotels will be full or empty, and whether people working in the sector will be able to remain at home or be forced to travel thousands of kilometres away in search of work.
But climate change is altering these winters. Snowfall is decreasing, cold-weather patterns are breaking down, the timing and volume of rainfall are shifting, and the winter season on which hundreds of thousands of people depend is becoming shorter, weaker and less certain.
There was a time when snow-filled winters and the lush hills that followed the monsoon were Himachal’s biggest tourism attractions. In December and January, visitors would flock to Shimla, Manali, Kufri, Narkanda and Dharamshala. Hotels would fill up and taxis would clog the narrow roads. For photographers, horse riders, dhaba owners, hotel staff, guides and small business owners, this was the season that helped them earn enough to last until the next one. Winter was the foundation of the local economy.
The scale of this shift can be understood from a striking fact: this year, in March — a month when Himachal’s hills should still have been covered in snow — a heatwave lasting five consecutive days was recorded across the districts of Mandi, Kullu, Kangra, Sirmaur and Solan. This year’s winter season also recorded the 22nd lowest rainfall in recorded history dating back to 1901, according to the India Meteorological Department.
Long-term data from the Meteorological Centre, Shimla showed that since 2010, January has recorded below-normal rainfall on 11 occasions. In 2010, winter rainfall was 46 per cent below normal. By 2016 and 2018, the deficit had risen to 70 per cent and 71 per cent respectively. In 2024, rainfall was 42 per cent below normal; in 2025, it was 26 per cent below normal; and by January 2026, the shortfall had already reached 11 per cent.
The data suggested that the decline in winter precipitation is not an isolated event. Such changes could affect not only tourism, but also agriculture, horticulture, forests and Himalayan water resources.
The changing weather has turned tourism from a profitable business into a loss-making one for many. Hotel owners are struggling to break even, local business owners are gradually stepping away from the trade, and those who remain are working through constant uncertainty. Climate change in Himachal is now contributing to migration for work, as people search for more stable and better-paying livelihoods elsewhere.
What is unfolding in the mountains goes beyond environmental change. As winters shorten and work disappears, many seasonal workers are leaving home in search of income elsewhere, joining a growing group researchers describe as “climate migrants.”
Tourism is central to Himachal Pradesh’s economy. According to the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Department, the sector contributes 7.78 per cent to the state’s gross domestic product, or GDP. More than three lakh people are directly and indirectly employed by the industry, which generates business worth approximately Rs 20,000 crore every year. The state has more than 10,000 registered hotels, 5,076 travel agencies, 1,741 photographers, 1,025 restaurants and 4,905 homestays.
Balwant Singh, a resort general manager with more than 35 years of experience in hotel management, believes the stability that once defined the business has gone. Singh told news portal The Migration Story that reduced snowfall has stripped several once-famous tourist destinations of their appeal. “January and February have become almost dead months — hotels and resorts just sit empty,” he said.
Jyoti Thakur, who runs hotels in Shimla, Dharamshala, Spiti and Manali, said she sees this on the ground. Thakur said that when hotels remain vacant through winter, paying staff salaries becomes impossible, forcing unwilling cuts to the workforce.
The crisis deepens further during the monsoon. The devastating cloudbursts and landslides of 2023 and 2025 have left a lasting fear in tourists’ minds, further weakening an already fragile cycle of livelihoods.
The deepest blow has fallen on workers whose livelihoods are directly tied to tourism. For them, changing weather means reduced wages, the threat of job loss and, ultimately, migration.
Pushpender Sharma worked in a Shimla travel agency for two decades. He told The Migration Story that until about 20 years ago, both the summer and winter seasons would be packed with visitors. Every Christmas and New Year brought thousands of tourists, hotels were fully booked and employment was never in short supply.
But over the past several years, snowfall has decreased, the winter tourist season has shrunk, and floods, landslides and droughts have weakened hopes of earning during the remaining months as well. “There used to be work here — now there is only waiting,” Sharma said.
Caught in this uncertainty, he gave up the profession he had chosen and returned to his village. He now runs a Lok Mitra Kendra, a citizen service centre, providing government services such as Aadhaar enrolment and licence applications. He earns up to Rs 20,000 a month from it. “Life goes on, but the world of tourism, to which I gave 20 years, is no longer viable for me,” he said.
Sharma is not alone. Amit Thakur, a chef at a well-known resort in Manali, works there for six months before migrating to Goa each year. “In winter now, there isn’t the work there used to be. Salaries drop at hotels and sometimes you lose your job altogether. That’s why I have to go to Goa — there is work during the season there, and the pay is better,” Thakur said.
Jaswant Singh, who works in a hotel kitchen in Manali, has been in the tourism trade for eight years. For the past five years, after each season in Manali, he has left Himachal and travelled to Leh-Ladakh for work.
“Every year I go out to work with four of my friends — sometimes to Leh-Ladakh, sometimes to Goa,” Singh said. “Working away from home is not easy, but there is no alternative left. If there is less work in the hotel, what can the owner do? He also has to manage his costs. But for us, running our household is essential too — so wherever there is work, we have to go.”
As environmental changes disrupt livelihoods in the mountains, many skilled workers are being forced to leave in search of work, becoming part of a growing wave of climate-driven migration.
The impact is felt most sharply in their health and mental well-being. People accustomed to Himachal’s cool valleys are forced to work in the heat of Rajasthan or the humidity of Goa and Kerala. Their bodies struggle to adapt. Different food, water and climatic conditions add to their physical and psychological stress.
They arrive at peak season, when workloads are heaviest and job security is weakest. Far from home, separated from their families and moving towards an uncertain future, their suffering is rarely recorded in government reports or policy documents.
Professor Nitin Vyas of the tourism department at Himachal Pradesh University believes the time has come to work seriously on sustainable tourism and frame policies that are environmentally compatible, so these workers can be protected from further insecurity.
Vikram Katoch, a research scholar at the School of Tourism and Hospitality Service Management at Indira Gandhi National Open University, said a shift towards a sustainable and climate-resilient tourism model is now unavoidable. Katoch said this means not simply developing new tourist destinations, but restructuring the existing tourism framework so that employment and income can continue despite weather uncertainty.
“Tourism must move beyond dependence on winter snow and a limited peak season towards a year-round model,” Katoch said.
Eco-tourism, cultural tourism, wellness tourism and off-season activities should all be promoted, he said. He added that the industry must go beyond selling rooms and offer tourists richer experiences and lasting memories, so that visitors return.
Social security and labour protection systems for seasonal workers are equally urgent. These could include off-season financial assistance, skill diversification and alternative local employment. Employment guarantees and migration support systems for climate-affected regions should also be considered, so that workers who must leave are assured of decent conditions and basic safety at their destinations.
The migration driven by Himachal’s changing weather can no longer be viewed merely as a natural or economic problem. It is an emerging policy question, at the centre of which are thousands of workers forced to leave their home state every year simply to survive.
Currently, there is no clear policy addressing climate-induced seasonal migration. There are many schemes to promote tourism, but for those who form its backbone — hotel workers, kitchen staff, drivers, photographers and other labourers — measures ensuring security and stability remain limited.
Vyas and Katoch highlight that climate risk must now be placed at the heart of tourism policy. If snowfall is declining and weather patterns are shifting, then investment, infrastructure and employment strategies must shift too. The government, communities and all stakeholders must work together. Otherwise, this crisis will only deepen in the years ahead.
Every day, Shankar Rajput photographs tourists on Shimla’s Ridge, continuing the work he has done for years. But as snowfall declines and tourist seasons become unpredictable, the livelihood that once sustained him is becoming harder to depend on. His experience reflects a wider reality across the Himalayas, where many workers tied to tourism are struggling to adapt to a changing climate.
Rohit Prashar is a mentee of the Climate Change Media Hub at the Asian College of Journalism. The programme is supported by Interlink Academy, Germany.