Srinagar, June 14: Peoples Conference Thursday alleged that the J&K Government was destroying, what it called, “Brand Kashmir.”
 A PC spokesman said the arrival of tourists in large numbers is a welcome development. “However it might at the end of the day be a short term gain long term pain affair. The image of Brand Kashmir as a tourist destination is being severely damaged. The medieval tourist infrastructure that we have on offer depicts Kashmir as a beautiful land with inhospitable facilities,” the spokesman said in a statement. Brand “Kashmir is a generational concept. Tourists are flocking Kashmir because of a historic reputation and hospitality legacy carried on from the past. We need to carry on that perception of Kashmir with utmost care and foresight.”
 The PC said “Our future generations should not pay for bad portrayal of Brand Kashmir created by the present political system and administration. Kashmir desperately needs addition of thousands and thousands of tastefully conceived hotel rooms. The government needs to script a plan of affirmative action and should have already gone into a fire fighting mode ensuring that thousands of hotel rooms are added annually. Yet it is in deep slumber, hiding behind the fig leaf of archaic laws. It seems to lack the capability, will and dynamism to formulate new laws as per the current needs.”
 The Spokesman said the “tourism industry directly and indirectly employs more people than the government and tragically successive governments have chosen to inhibit and penalize growth and development in this industry.” “We will soon move an RTI application to ascertain the number of applications received for building hotels in the last fifteen years and how many of these applications have been approved. Successive governments have hindered job creation in the tourism sector and caused irreparable damage to Brand Kashmir. Our humble advice to the government is that if it does not have the capability to facilitate tourist trade, let them not impede it by insisting on application of outdated coercive laws. The best option for the government is to get out of way and let our dynamic private sector create a world class tourist infrastructure,” the spokesman said. 

Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 15 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST