Srinagar: The arrival of spring in 2022 brought a major turnaround in Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism history. As the devastating COVID-19 ebbed away, encouraging economies across Jammu and Kashmir to open up, Jammu & Kashmir especially Valley, registered a steady rise in tourist footfall.
The Kashmir tourism sector, pummeled since August 2019 due to back-to-back lockdowns, witnessed a considerably good season in 2021 despite the flare up of Covid-19 as domestic visitors kept flocking to the Valley.This time Kashmir Valley has broken all the previous records of tourist arrivals in the last three months. The valley saw more than 3,40,000 tourist arrivals in the months of January, February and March.
Jammu & Kashmir witnessed the highest-ever tourist footfall this season especially during the month of March and April. The tourist rush pushed the government to increase the number of flights running at Srinagar Airport. J&K Government deserves due acknowledgement for leaving no stone unturned in promoting tourism in J&K.This time the tourism department and the industry took many initiatives to woo visitors back to Kashmir. The events like snow carnivals, Christmas and the New Year have attracted more tourists to Kashmir.
As Spring is one of the best times to visit the valley. The Jammu and Kashmir tourism department organised many spring festivals to attract more and more tourists and prolong the spring season. Recently, the government also fixed rates for tourism services to discourage the practice of fleecing tourists visiting Kashmir. The step was taken after complaints in recent years that tourists were being overcharged and exploited by transporters, hoteliers, and other service providers during peak season in Kashmir.
CEO PDA , Dr Hashim while taking to Kashmir Horizon over phone said that we have placed a well placed mechanism to deal with the heavy rush of tourists to Pahalgam besides prime stress is put on cleaning the waste items on a daily basis and solid treatment plants are there as well.
Directions have also passed to hoteliers to strictly follow tourism related guidelines he added. Though J&K has tremendous tourism potential and being a labour-intensive industry, it provides a very vast scope for employment as compared to other enterprises. Tourism provides good sustenance to the local population as well as generates revenue for the State exchequer. But infrastructure continues to be a weak connection in the chain of the tourism sector. While main roads are well laid, the peripherals are in a state of shabbiness. There is also the issue of erratic electricity supply and lack of other modern amenities. Lack of infrastructure is always a deterrent to visitors and the sooner this situation is rectified, the better. It is imperative for Kashmir to witness a considerable facelift in case the tourist and business potential is to be fully exploited. However, environmentalists have been ringing the alarm bells, saying that unplanned and unregulated tourism beyond a certain limit will take a toll on the fragile environment and natural resources. They insist that tourism should not be encouraged beyond the carrying capacity of the tourist destinations in the Valley, as Kashmir’s fragile environment is at greater risk due to rising air pollution and the non-implementation of environmental protection laws.
The rising pollution threatens the tourism sector as it includes fragile snow-covered hills and eco-sensitive meadows and water bodies. Experts say that due to rising pollution famous tourist spots of valley will lose its prime attraction and the level of oxygen will deteriorate. Besides, Government needs a comprehensive policy to explore and develop hidden and virgin tourist destinations so that tourists will have more places to visit beyond Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other places.
