A two-day-long snow festival has begun in Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir. The festival aims to attract tourists and is organised by the tourism ministry.
A number of winter sports like snow cycling, night ice skating, snow making competition, sledge race, snow scooter races, skiing and snow rugby are on offer at the festival.
Tourists can also gorge on local delicacies at the fest and shake a leg with the traditional dancers.
"The main objective of the snow festival is to attract maximum number of tourists in this season. The other motive behind organising such festival is to increase the popularity of the destination so that the tourism industry grows," said, Farooq Shah, Director, Jammu and Kashmir Torism Development Corporation.
A skiing resort in the hill station has become a popular joint among youngsters. The authorities are now looking forward to making it a favourite destination among foreign tourists as well.
The snow festival was scheduled to be held at around Christmas, but due to less snowfall, the event was postponed to March.
