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 Tourism
in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) is poised for resurgence, this
was evident with the huge pavilion of the state at the recently
concluded TTF and is also a clear indication of the efforts
to promote tourism in the state. ‘Chalo Kashmir’
is the new slogan of Jammu and Kashmir tourism department
and the state government, which has drawn up ambitious plans
to boost tourism by augmenting room capacity, sprucing up
lakes and encouraging private sector investment. Out of the
Rs 26 crore budget outlay for the year, nearly 60 per cent
has been earmarked for private sector as incentives.
According to Mohmad Ashraf, director general, Jammu and Kashmir
Tourism, the state had drawn up special packages of incentives
for tourism industry. He stated that the state government
had proposed to bear 50 per cent cost of modernising travel
agencies and had also disbursed Rs 30 crore to hotels as loans
at subsidised interest rate of 16 per cent. In Srinagar, hotels
had 6,000 bed capacity, while in Jammu, there were 1,000 beds
as against 26,000 in J&K in early 80’s. Ashraf informed
that the state government was encouraging private sector to
increase the room capacity and plans were also afoot to spruce
up the 12,000 houseboats in Srinagar.
The state government also instated the Raja Patil Tourism
Award last year with a cash prize of Rs one lakh and a trophy
for the tour operator bringing in the largest number of tourist.
Also the tourism department not only bought the stall space
but also beared the travelling expense of the 26 delegates
participating in the TTF. All these measures are part of the
effort of the state government to achieve its target of three
to four lakh domestic tourists this year compared to 28,000
last year.
“Last
year we had the lowest number of visitors after the start
of resurgence in 1996, when we had 2,17,000 tourists. During
1999 despite Kargil, we had 17,000 tourists. Tourism has suffered
due to factors outside Kashmir. At present Ghulmargh, Sonmarg,
Phelgham, all the tourist areas are quite secure. In fact,
Srinagar is safer than Washington or London,” stated
Ashraf.
He further added, “A dialogue has been initiated by the
state government with the ministry of civil aviation with
respect to the prohibitive fares of domestic airlines and
to remove the inland air tax or grant a relief of 20 per cent.”
The state has also introduced new products like golf tourism
and adventure tourism. After a gap of 20 years, the National
Institute of mountaineering started skiing courses this year.
The valley also boasts of a 18-hole golf course built at cost
of Rs 37 crore designed by Robert Trent Jr, the well- known
US golf course designer. Ashraf claimed that the course is
not only one of the top ten in the world and is placed third
in Asia.
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