“A fresh initiative to identify more villages of hilly resorts like Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Gurez Valley for development as adventure tourism destinations can further boost adventure tourism in Kashmir Valley”.
Aru Village Of Pahalgam area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag districts getting prestigious “Best Tourism Villages Of India Award” in the adventure tourism category is recognition of the facelift the adventure tourism has got in previous years. The award encourages the J&K Tourism Department to develop other hilly tourist destinations also for adventure tourism in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Aru Village has not attracted the attention of tourists just in recent years but it attracted tourists years ago. Unfortunately Aru wasn’t developed as an ideal adventure tourist destination during the years of popular rule the way it has been developed in last few years. In fact the adventure tourism unfortunately didn’t get the desired attention during the years of popular rule due to which Aru also did not find an ideal place on the map of adventure tourism. Since the award has been announced by Union Tourism Ministry on no less an important day than the world Tourism Day the Aru Village of Pahalgam area of South Kashmir’s Pahalgam district would now hopefully attract more tourists than ever before. Not only Aru but many other villages lying closer to the hilly resorts of great repute in Kashmir are ideal for adventure tourism but unfortunately have not been developed for adventure tourism so for. A fresh initiative to identify more villages of hilly resorts like Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Gurez Valley for development as adventure tourism destinations can further boost adventure tourism in Kashmir Valley. Experience have shown the adventure tourism is a much greater attraction for foreign tourists and as such exploring new adventure tourism destinations could boost foreign tourist arrivals in Kashmir Valley. Experts believe that foreign tourist arrivals would most likely show unprecedented rise this winter also in view of the increasing focus on adventure tourist activities like trekking , skiing and mountaineering in ensuing mid winter season this year.
“Increased focus on developing adventure tourism destinations won’t just promote trekking, skiing and mountaineering during mid winter season in Jammu & Kashmir but it would also generate new employment opportunities for the local populations besides giving a major boost to Kashmir’s hotel Industry witnessing a huge expansion during last more than two years.”
Since for boosting trekking, skiing and mountaineering the engagement and involvement of local guides, porters, and other support staff is a priority for the Government, the promotion of adventure tourist activities at Aru like tourist destinations during mid winter months would consequently generate more and more employment opportunities for the local populations in the hilly resorts like Gumarg, Pahalgam, Sonmarg, Gurez Valley and Bungus Valley. The increasing focus on adventure tourism won’t only just increase tourist footfall and consequently boost employment avenues for the local populations in the hilly resorts but would also throw up bigger opportunities for the local tour and travel operators to offer special packages to the tourists during mid winter season in Valley. So increased focus on developing adventure tourism destinations won’t just promote trekking, skiing and mountaineering during mid winter season in Jammu & Kashmir but it would also generate new employment opportunities for the local populations besides giving a major boost to Kashmir’s hotel Industry witnessing a huge expansion during last more than two years.
