The Valley has started experiencing tourists after twin lockdown

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Since August 2019, Kashmir failed to see much arrival in tourists. Firstly due to the Central government lockdown, revoked special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and then due to the pandemic in March 2020. As per the official figures, the tourism industry of Kashmir went through a whopping loss of Rs. 1166.81 crore from August 2019 to August 2020. The tourism players are positive though. They hope that the winter season, the Valley will attract domestic travelers in view of the barred international travel due to Covid-19.

“Enquires (from tourists) have started to take place for the winter months and the numbers are far better than they were during the past one and a half months,” said Farooq Ahmad Kuthoo, President of Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK), a representative of more than 100 tourism agencies. He named these enquiries as “breaking the ice.” “We expect numbers at the year end. Tourists want to see snow. A good number of inquiries come from Gujarat and Maharashtra. We hope that numbers will be better as restrictions are still on international travel. Domestic tourists will prefer Kashmir for its scenic beauty,” Kuthoo added.

Director Tourism, Kashmir, Nisar Ahmad is also optimistic of the current situation explaining that tourist arrivals have started increasing in the past weeks. “More than 600 tourists arrived in the Valley by air on Sunday. This is just the beginning and we are getting good enquiries too,” he said.

Ahmad explained that the Department is trying hard to make tourist arrivals easy in Kashmir. “We are aware people belonging to the industry are suffering. Be it a Shikara wallah, a taxi wallah, a hotel owner or travel agent — all of them are suffering,” he said.

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