Bhaderwah: An encouraging 11,500 visitors converged at snow-filled Jaie Valley to participate in "Askini Bhaderkashi Utsav" that concluded at Bhaderwah on Saturday.
The two-day festival organized by District Administration, Doda in collaboration with Tourism Department Jammu and Army's Rashtriya Rifles unit based at Bhaderwah. On the concluding day teams competed in snow football, skiing, sledging, snow scooters, hot air ballooning and snow cricket besides a musical bonanza was also organised.
DC Doda, Vishesh Paul Mahajan, was the chief guest on the occasion who said that national and international travelers have shown tremendous interest to visit Bhaderwah and efforts "to explore and develop tourism and adventure/winter sports potential of the region will continue to attract more and more tourists to uplift and strengthen the tourism infrastructure of the district."
Overwhelmed by the enormous response of national and international travel enthusiasts during 'Askini Bhaderkashi Utsav', Sunaina Mehta Joint Director Tourism Jammu said that Bhaderwah has emerged as a role model to attract tourists.
"We wanted to encash the beauty of snow-filled meadows here to attract national travelers as well as foreigners and the joint holistic approach by the District Administration, Indian Army and Tourism Department resulted in resounding success," said Sunaina Mehta.
"I would suggest other districts of UT should also follow the road map, which is being practiced to attract tourists in Bhaderwah. This could become a nodal point to develop tourism in the Jammu region," she added.
