Jammu and Kashmir government today kicked off a nine-day Paragliding Festival, an initiative to attract adventure-seeking tourists to the state.
The festival was kicked off by Minister for Tourism Ghulam Ahmad Mir at Dara, on the outskirts of Srinagar city.
Mir said although paragliding was done in other parts of the country, the beautiful mountains and vast areas of the Valley offer tremendous scope for the adventure sport.
"This is the second time this year that we are conducting such an event here. This adventure sport was missing here, even though there is a lot of potential for it. Till now, the only place where paragliding was done in the northern region of the country was in Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh. But our Dara valley is much beautiful than Kangra valley," Mir told reporters.
He said the Tourism Department has identified more places for the activity.
The minister said the government wants the youth of the state to adopt such kind of adventurous activity which has the potential to attract more tourists.
"We are trying to train local youth so that they adopt this activity. Till recent years, tourism meant that the guest came here, stayed in the hotels, enjoyed wazwaan (Kashmiri cuisine) and returned ... That was tourism for us. Now the world has changed. People like to visit beautiful places, but like trekking and adventure sports as well. Paragliding is an important and an attractive activity," he said.
Mir said the department will support the youth and provide incentives to them.
