Kashmir Valley welcomes a million visitors

SRINAGAR:  Tourist footfall in Kashmir has crossed the whopping one million mark this year highest in the militancy-hit Valley in over a decade despite the recent spurt in targeted killings by militants.  Director of Tourism Kashmir Dr G N Itoo told this newspaper that more than 10 lakh tourists have visited Kashmir in the six months of the year.

All the hotels in Srinagar and the health resorts of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg are witnessing 100 per cent occupancy.  Besides, houseboats are also witnessing 70-80 per cent occupancy. It said it is for the first time in the past 12 years that one million tourists have visited the Valley.  Even though the footfall of visitors in 2016 had crossed 12 lakh, the figure included Amarnath pilgrims also.

“But this year, the Amarnath Yatra has not started yet and we are only in the sixth month of the year and we have crossed one million tourist arrivals,” he said. Itoo said the road shows organised by tourism stakeholders in different parts of the country had a positive impact and now tourists from across the country are thronging Kashmir. Visitors continue to throng the Valley and there has been no impact on the inflow after recent targeted killings, he said.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Kashmir chapter president Zahoor Ahmad Qari said this year Kashmir has witnessed a consistent footfall. The hotels have an advanced booking for about a month and bookings from the travellers are being received consistently by the hoteliers. Qari said they receive 20-30 enquiries per day and there has been no let-up in the enquiries after the targeted killings by militants since May. He said the targeted killings did not impact Kashmir tourism and there had been no cancellations. Qari said if the trend continues and there is not another Covid wave, Kashmir will witness a bumper tourist season this year. 

The rise in numbers has brought smiles back to the faces of all tourism stakeholders. “The inflow has given us a ray of hope. We had been struggling for survival from 2019 till last year. Some of us had to sell our properties to manage day-to-day affairs and to carry out maintenance of our houseboats despite the Valley recording near-zero tourist inflow for three years,” said houseboat owner Abdul Rashid. A hotelier said it was not possible to cover all the losses in one season or one year.