Foreign Tourists walk on Boulevard alongside Dal Lake in Srinagar – KO File Photo, Abid Bhat
Srinagar- After three year hiatus, the foreign tourists have finally returned to Kashmir as their footfall in the Valley witnessed a significant spike in the last year, much to the delight of the people associated with the tourism industry.
Sarmand Hafeez, secretary tourism revealed that Jammu and Kashmir received some twenty thousand international visitors last year and more foreign guests are expected to visit the Valley this year.
“Most of the tourists were from Southeast Asian and European countries,” Hafeez told Kashmir Observer.
It may be noted that the tourism sector witnessed a massive blow after New Delhi imposed a crippling lockdown ahead of the abrogation of special status of the region and divided the state into two Union Territories on 5 August 2019. A year later in 2020,the foreigners’ footfall in the Valley received another blow due to the outbreak of Covid-19 followed by back-to back lockdowns and travel restrictions
However , in 2022, record breaking footfall of tourists was witnessed with over 24 lakh tourists visiting the Valley .
According to official data, In 2020, 3897 foreign tourists visited Kashmir, while in 2021, the number declined to 1615. However in 2022 around 20,000 foreigners visited the region.
“You must be knowing since there were travel restrictions in the last few years now the same has been revoked. We expect more footfall in 2023,” Hafeez said.
He further said the foreigners are also getting easy access to visas.
The return of foreign tourists has brought cheer to the tourism players in the Valley.
Talking to Kashmir Observer, noted businessman and Chairman Hoteliers Club, Mushtaq Chaya said that the foreign tourists spend more than domestic tourists which benefits the local businessmen.
“It’s a good thing that they have returned. We welcome them,” Chaya added.
According to Mudasir Mushtaq, who owns a hotel in Gulmarg, tourists from UK, US and Thailand stayed at his hotel in the months of June, August and September.
“Three rooms of our hotel have already been booked by a group of tourists from the UK from the first week of January,” Mushtaq said.
Notably, the Valley received the season’s first snow on Friday bringing joy to tourists and locals preparing to welcome 2023 at different tourist resorts. Most of the foreign tourists prefer skiing in Gulmarg.
Official sources said that the tourism department is gearing up to woo more foreign tourists in the UT and the officials of the department have attended different International travel marts to showcase the huge potential J&K offers to visitors, travellers and adventure lovers.
“We are hoping that our travel and trade will also be represented in these marts and we will be able to advertise and invite people here,” Hafeez said.
He expressed pleasure that the travel agents of the valley have also taken several initiatives to get more foreign tourists.
“Our travel agents also visited Thailand and Malaviya, where they conducted several road shows to get tourists to the valley,” he added.
When asked if the tourism department has enough infrastructure to accommodate foreign tourists keeping in view the luxurious lifestyle, he said the department has enough infrastructure but they are working to improve it.
“A number of hotels and restaurants have been renovated, refurbished and re-started which has generated more employment,” Hafeez said, adding that a chain of hotels have shown interest in operating in the valley.
“The new groups are also coming and home stay schemes have also been launched recently so that it will benefit at the gross root level,” he added.
He said for winter tourism, the department has taken several initiatives to keep the season vibrant.The tourism department, according to him, have also opened two more tourist destinations– Yousmarg and Doodhpathri– active to attract more tourists this winter season.
“The Pahalgam is jam packed with tourists which would usually witness less tourism in winter but we have started several initiatives to keep it open for winters,” Hafeez said adding that “Sking operations in Sonamarg is going on and Gulmarg is also witnessing an unprecedented rush of tourists,”
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