Tourist arrivals in Kashmir double in 2004

Tourism in Kashmir has grown by 96 per cent, from 192,000 visitors in 2003 to almost 400,000 visitors in 2004, according to the Department of Tourism, Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Recovering from the post-Kargil slump, Ladakh saw a 23 per cent increase in tourist arrivals, from 28,400 in 2003 to 35,000 in 2004.

This year the Valley has already witnessed the arrival of 88,840 tourists, a leap of 113 per cent from 41,800 tourists last year around the same time. Ladakh saw 1,105 tourists till April, a 17 per cent increase over last year's 941.

Another segment of tourism in the Valley is the Amarnath yatra. According to the J&K tourism department, four lakh people participated in the pilgrimage in 2004, which was an increase of 161 per cent from 153,314 pilgrims in 2003.

Interestingly, most tourists to the state are Indians. In 1988, the peak year for tourism in J&K, 59,938 foreigners visited the Kashmir Valley. This reduced to just 18,600 in 2004.

"Indian tourists are the mainstay of tourism in Kashmir. They come in even during insurgency," said GM Kakpori, deputy director, department of tourism, J&K government.

At present, Indian Airlines, Sahara Airlines and Jet Airways fly to Srinagar. The approval for Air Deccan to fly to Srinagar is pending with the directorate-general civil aviation.

Till 1989, tourism was the second largest employer in the state, next only to agriculture and horticulture. In 1988 alone, more than seven lakh tourists came to the Valley. But, this fell drastically in the 1990s. In the last two-and-half-years, the tourism industry in the state has made several attempts to revive.

These attempts at promoting the image of the state include setting up food stalls at the recently-held Dubai Shopping Festival, a large pavilion at the South Asian Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE 2005), and participation in travel fairs at Mumbai and Kolkata. The fourth National Winter Games were also held in Gulmarg in 2004.

Abhijeet Patil, chief executive officer of Raja Rani Travels, one of the biggest travel companies in the state, is of the opinion that the Indian cricket team's visit to Pakistan last year helped in removing the "fear-psychosis".

"We were flooded with queries about J&K. This year we had bookings months before the travel season started," he added.

A Cox and Kings spokesperson said, "This year we have at least 50,000 people going to J&K. Two years back this number was zero."

Lack of infrastructure is one of the major roadblocks to the development of tourism in the state. The J&K government had spent almost Rs 3 crore on tourism last year. This increased to Rs3.5 crore this year. There are also plans to convert the Srinagar airport into an international one.