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Kashmir witnesses bumper tourist season this year
Our hotels are booked. It is after 2008 that we have been seeing such inflow of tourists, says Javid ul Rehman, assistant director tourism, Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir
Kashmir has witnessed a good tourist season this year so far despite the Covid’s second wave hitting the country in April, May and June.
Officials said over 4.25 lakh visitors toured places in the Himalayan valley till the first week of November and the outlook for winter is also bright with advance bookings in most of the hotels.
October witnessed a record footfall of 91,000 – which is otherwise considered a lean month.
Many people chose to celebrate their Diwali in Kashmir with 25,000 arrivals in the first week of November.
“This is a bumper season as we have the highest footfall in October which is usually a lean period,” said Zeeshan Khan, assistant director tourism department, publicity.
Bilal Ahmad, assistant director tourism, Pahalgam, said post-Covid, the tourism scenario this year was good.
“These are lean months, but surprisingly we are getting record tourist numbers and many of them are high-end visitors,” he added. He said they have already crossed four lakh visitors till October end and the numbers are increasing.
The tourism in Kashmir had nosedived after August 5, 2019, when the special status of the erstwhile state was revoked. The situation was further aggravated by the Covid-induced lockdown the next year.
The ski resort of Gulmarg has also been reaping benefits this year, particularly drawing elite visitors.
“Our hotels are booked. This is after 2008 that we have been seeing such inflow, particularly since last winter’s snowfall, though there was some break in May and June,” said Javid ul Rehman, assistant director tourism, Gulmarg.
He said that many elite groups have been making their way to Kashmir.
“There is hardly any day when the most expensive hotel in Gulmarg where a room costs 50,000 a day does not remain booked,” he said.
“There can be two reasons. One is restrictions on foreign travel, so Kashmir is an option for such high-end tourists and another is many people have been holed up in their homes owing to Covid and they want to relax,” Rehman said.
The footfall has buoyed the economy to some extent which has been under increased stress.
Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Sheikh Ashiq acknowledged the positive impact of tourism revival on the economy, but wanted the government to work on making Kashmir a 12-month destination.
“Definitely when there is no business and something positive happens, it helps,” Ashiq said.
He said that the focus on high-end tourists is good but at the same time we want that the lower and middle segment should also be attracted.
“The middle segment of tourists should not be ignored as they are a boon to the industry,” he added.
