Kullu District Remains Prime Choice Of Tourists Visiting Himachal Pradesh
The state is working towards increasing the tourist inflow to five crore per annum.
Published : November 4, 2025 at 4:25 PM IST
Shimla: Kullu district has emerged as the prime choice of tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh, with Malai and Kasol being the preferred destinations. Shimla and Solan districts of the state are also the sought-after places ranking second and third in the preferential list of tourists.
The Human Development Report 2025, brought out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reveals that Kullu district topped the tourism list in 2024 and recorded the highest number of tourists in a single year. It was followed by Shimla district, while Solan district came in third.
Over 1.80 crore tourists visited Himachal in 2024, of which 19.6% or 35.38 lakh visited Kullu district alone.
Himachal Pradesh has 12 districts, with each of them offering several tourist destinations to offer. Parts of Una, Kangra, Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Sirmaur and Solan are plains, while Shimla, Chamba, Mandi, Kulu, Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur are completely hilly districts. Many of these districts, including Kullu, have captivating valleys.
In terms of tourist arrivals in 2024, Kullu topped with 35.38 lakh tourists, with Shimla receiving 25.76 lakh, where 955 tourists arrived throughout the year. Solan received 23.93 lakh tourists with 491 tourists arriving in the district throughout the year.
The arrivals in the other districts included 15.77 lakh in Sirmaur, 15.15 lakh in Mandi, 12.32 lakh in Una, 11.91 lakh in Chamba, 10.55 lakh in Lahaul and Spiti, 10.04 lakh in Bilaspur, 7.74 lakh in Kangra, 7.63 lakh in Hamirpur and 4.17 lakh in Kinnaur.
Since the construction of the Atal Tunnel, there has been a significant increase in tourist arrivals in the Lahaul and Spiti district.
Kullu district continues to see steady tourist arrivals due to the international Dussehra festival, the Great Himalayan National Park, the beauty of Manali and the popularity of Tosh valley, Lag valley and Shangarh.
Una, Kangraand Bilaspur districts are particularly popular with religious tourists visiting the numerous shrines located here.
Meanwhile, Shimla retains the British charm, and the tourists also visit the apple orchards. This district accounts for 80 % of Himachal's total apple production.
Solan district is famous for the destinations of Kasauli and Chail, while Sirmaur is popular for the Churdhar trek and its famous folklore.
Chamba is a historic city with the destination of Dalhousie and Mandi retains its reputation of being the Chhoti Kashi.
All the districts in Himachal Pradesh offer some tourist attraction or the other that is difficult to ignore.
The report also notes that Himachal Pradesh offers landscape, wildlife tourism and adventure tourism alongside the other attractions.
The tourism sector contributes 7.78% to Himachal Pradesh's gross domestic product (GDP).
Citing previous data, the Human Development Report 2025 states that the tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh generated 1,86,000 direct jobs in 2018-19, and this figure has now increased to over 2,00,000.
There are 4,943 registered hotels and guest houses in the state, besides 4,948 homestays. The state also has 1,023 registered restaurants and 5,081 travel agencies catering to the tourist arrivals.
Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu claims that his government has been focusing on the tourism sector, and new ideas are being explored to attract more tourists. The state government aims to attract 5 crore tourists annually to Himachal, for which the infrastructure is being expanded.
