Walking the Walk: An Evaluation of Pedestrian Tourism on the Mall Road Shimla

Abstract

The present study revolves around exploring the pedestrian culture that exists in the city of Shimla, in north western Himalayas of India. Shimla, a popular hill tourism destination has had a long tradition of walking since colonial times and has a unique pedestrianonly-shopping-street known as the Mall Road, which is also a prime attraction that provides a quintessential experience to tourists. The paper investigates the pedestrian patterns, activities and opinion of tourists about this pedestrian street. The study concludes that tourists are generally pleased with their pedestrian experience on the Mall. However some features of this pedestrian street can still be further enhanced. The city popular Mall Road should be studied by tourism planners of other destinations, as an ideal example of a pedestrian street, in order to explore the possibilities of introducing pedestrianization with the aim of enhancing city-scapes, and also for slowing down todays fast paced life to the right speed, in the interest of enriching the quality of life of the individual and society.

Keywords: Pedestrianization, Tourists, Pedestrian Mall, Shimla, Mall Road

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