Dharamsala, Dec 21 (IANS): The Himachal Pradesh assembly on Thursday passed an amendment Bill without discussion to make registration of all tourism units, including home stays, mandatory.

The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development and Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2023, seeks to amend nine sections of the original 2002 legislation.

Introducing the amendment Bill, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu on Wednesday said the 2002 law had not been revised and the tourism sector had undergone tremendous changes since then in terms of its scope and the number of people involved.

Units operating without registration will face action after the bill is passed into law.

The operational units will be required to apply for registration within 30 days but these will not have to pay any fee till the expiry of the existing registration licence. The registration of tourism units will have to be done within 90 days after fulfilling all the formalities.

A provision of six months' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 was made for units running without registration.