BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 21 JULY 2023:
The G-20 meeting at Srinagar has played a key role in repositioning the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir once again on the global tourism canvas, feels Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq Chisti, Deputy Director of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism.
The G-20 Tourism Working Group Meeting was held at Srinagar from 22 to 25 May and after which there has been a spurt in arrivals of foreign tourists to J&K.
“It’s been a week since we visited Srinagar. Still missing the beauty of J&K. Will be back,”tweets, HC Wong of Singapore after returning back from G-20 meet in Srinagar.
In the first six months of this year about 15,000 foreign tourists have visited the Kashmir valley already, a huge increase from 4000 foreign tourists visiting the UT in the entire 2022. Last year a record 1.88 crores tourist footfalls were recorded in J&K, all time highest ever since independence.
Speaking to the Travel and Tourism Times, at the sidelines of the Travel and Tourism Fair (TTF) Kolkata 2023 in Biswa Bangla Prangan, where J&K Tourism had put up a pavillion showcasing their enormous natural beauty, Dr. Ahsan Ul Haq Chisti has said that the international working group meeting was held at Srinagar for tourism which have helped a lot in alleviating the apprehension of the foreign tourists.
Participants from various foreign countries who have come here have given very positive feedback after returning back to their respective countries and the recent spurt in the arrival of international tourists at Srinagar airport is a testimony to that fact.
“ Tourists from East Asia, Europe, USA are all coming to Kashmir. They prefer adventure tourism here and stay at the houseboats at Dal Lake. The natural beauty of the mountains in J&K is a major attraction for the foreign tourists. Our government has come out with several new tourism policies like promoting 75 offbeat destinations and adding 50,000 rooms in homestays for added attractions,”he added.
Not only the homestay policy is aimed at sustainable tourism efforts but will also preserve the local ecology and generate local livelihood and boost the rural economy, Dr. Chisti added.
The J&K Tourism department is pushing its homestay policy very hard and it has already picked up and over 2000 new rooms have been added so far and many more are on pipeline. The tourists who stay at these homestays will enjoy the local culture and the cuisines.
The tourism department has taken an initiative to identify 300 new tourism destinations and develop them into future tourism hotspots.
Off beat new destinations such as Gurez, Doodhpatni, Bungus, Patni Top etc are drawing huge crowds. Sonemarg, as usual, attracts lots of tourists and has remained open both in summer and in winter seasons.
“ We have already started many adventure tourism activities like angling, tecking, paragliding, snowboarding, snow cycling, kayaking etc. Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Doodhpatni, Bangus are drawing huge domestic tourists also,”he said. More facilities will be added in Manasbal Lake to attract for foreign and domestic tourist footfalls.
The cuisines of Kashmir are world famous both vegan and non veg, besides festivals and exhibitions have been organised along with road shows to promote tourism in the union territory.
“West Bengal is the biggest source market for domestic tourism in J&K,” says Mr. Irshad Ahmad Lone, MD of Lone Tours and Travels in Srinagar. Kashmir is also a perfect place to host wedding destinations and MICE tourism.
“ To promote the ethnic Kashmiri food, food festivals are also organised. We have also started a horticulture tour and taking visitors to the famous saffron cultivation area inPampore, apple, walnuts, cherry orchard areas both in North and South Kashmir,” Dr. Chisti said.
Kashmiri Art and Crafts promotion – Pashmina shawls, copper work, pepler machine etc. A ten day extensive training of tour guides on heritage tourism has also been conducted by the J&K Tourism department.
“It was my first time visiting Kashmir and I found it extremely beautiful.The landscapes , the views , the culture and the hospitality was amazing. It is rightly called paradise on earth. I’m thankful to J&K Tourism for all their assistance and support during my stay in Kashmir. I’m definitely coming back here with my friends and hope to have some fun skiing on the slopes of Gulmarg this winter!,”tweets ace badminton star Saina Nehal.
The J&K Tourism has over 100 properties for staying at popular destinations, besides several hundreds of properties from private players.
Once the rail link will be completed the tourism in Kashmir will be unstoppable as rising airfares has been an issue in the past few months for the increase in expenses and budgets for the tourists.
Connectivity will be eased from Udhampur to Srinagar and over the Chenab River Bridge.
“ We have received a lot of queries for the upcoming tourism seasons for several destinations in J&K in our stall at the TTF Kolkata 2023,” said Mr. Gurmeet Randhawa, General manager of Radisson Golf Resort, Pahalgam.
The Khyber Himalayan Resort and Spa, Gulmarg, Shahbaz Travels, Dream Valley Holiday Experts, Imad Holidays, Srinagar, Merlin Group of Houseboats, Srinagar, Hotel Sahara, Dalgate, Srinagar, Hotel Ascot, Srinagar, all have been present in the TTF Kolkata -2023 and has offered special discount rates for tourists of Kolkata.
( All pictures Courtesy : J&K Tourism Department)
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