Travellers heading to Mussoorie will no longer be able to check into the hill station without a tourist registration done prior through a government-run portal. It is an administrative shift that marks one of Uttarakhand’s most assertive moves yet to control its ballooning tourism burden.
Mussoorie Mandates Tourist Registration
The rule, enforced by the state’s tourism department and operational from Wednesday, applies to every visitor staying in hotels, guest houses, and homestays in Mussoorie. Registration isn’t optional and property owners are required to log guest details on a designated online system at the time of check-in. This new protocol, officials insist, is not just a digital headcount but a real-time data backbone meant to restore some control to a town suffering under the weight of its own popularity.
The urgency behind the rule is hard to miss. In just two years, Mussoorie’s tourist numbers jumped from 11 lakh in 2022 to over 21 lakh in 2024. The results have been predictably chaotic. Daily traffic bottlenecks especially along the Gandhi Chowk to Mall Road stretch have become the norm. In June, the issue turned tragic as a tourist from Delhi died after failing to receive timely medical care, reportedly due to severe congestion. That single incident brought the town’s infrastructural shortcomings into sharp focus.
The registration process itself is two-tiered. First, hotels and homestays must register their establishments on the portal by submitting key details: type of accommodation, name of the property, number of rooms, ownership data, and overall capacity. Only after completing this step can they begin logging individual guest arrivals.
Hear From The Authorities
Brijendra Pandey, district tourism officer, made the administration’s position clear when he said that this system will be more than just accommodating crowds. He called this intervention by the state necessary and added that the data will assist in strategic planning, infrastructure upgrades, and emergency preparedness.
While Sanjay Aggarwal, president of the Mussoorie Hotels Association, has publicly urged members to comply, others within the industry are less enthusiastic, calling it another layer of red tape.
The directive comes on the back of a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order from May 8. The NGT had directed the Uttarakhand government to implement a system to regulate tourist inflow within two months. Its concern remains that the hill station’s carrying capacity, determined by available parking, lodging, and basic civic services was being dangerously exceeded. The NGT had earlier flagged similar concerns in Joshimath, following a series of alarming land subsidence reports, and warned against allowing similar degradation in Mussoorie.
This isn’t just crowd control; it’s risk mitigation. A town that once thrived on its slow charm now finds itself at the edge of collapse, choked by its own appeal. Whether the registration rule proves to be a smart intervention or an administrative headache is still up for debate.
Cover Image Courtesy: kashifmasood/CanvaPro
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