Tuesday, December 14, 2021
In November, tourist arrival in Kashmir crossed a seven-year high mark. Early snowfall in the Valley, especially in Gulmarg, also prompted more people to visit the ski resort.
So far this year, total visitors in the Valley reached almost 5.5 lakh, said the officials.
Early snowfall, Covid-induced global restrictions and strong campaign by the administration triggered more inflow of tourists in the Valley as the union territory is opening more offbeat and virgin destinations to keep the sector buoyant throughout the year.
Zeeshan Khan, assistant director, tourism department, said that more than 1.27 lakh tourists visited places in the Himalayan valley in November.
“This is a seven-year high in November. Last year we had just 6,000 tourists in November,” Khan said.
“Overall more than 5.49 lakh tourists came to Kashmir this year till December first week,” he said.
“Snow was a blessing in disguise. The December outlook is looking good. There is a full house at Gulmarg. There is hardly any hotel which is not booked,” Khan said.
October witnessed a record visitor number of 91,000 – which is otherwise considered a lean month.
On Saturday, on International Mountain Day- 2021, the tourism department released trekking maps of offbeat destinations and held mountain biking and cycling events at Zabarwan, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Naranag, Nowgam and other locations.
“Kashmir valley is registering impressive tourist arrivals which have been the result of sustained efforts by the department in terms of sustained capacity-building of stakeholders, vaccination drives and promotions across markets in the country,” said adviser to lieutenant-governor, Farooq Khan during a tourism function held in Srinagar on Saturday.
Tags: kashmir
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