Only half a percent of 94 lakh foreign tourist arrivals to India visit Kashmir in 2018

Despite a sizable traffic of tourists coming to Kashmir from South-East Asian nations off late, the total number of foreign tourist arrivals to the Valley continues to be abysmal. 

As per official data, Kashmir received only 50,000 foreign tourists, which makes half a percent of total all-India arrivals of about 94 lakh people, who visited India from across the globe in 2018. 

   

Tour trade players say this is largely due to the travel advisories in place and the fragile situation here.

Even the domestic tourist arrivals to Kashmir do not show any improvement this year as well. Kerala received eight times more tourists than that of Kashmir in 2018, despite the fact that the coastal state was hit by severe floods in August this year.  

While the Jammu and Kashmir government has been lately highlighting that 8 lakh domestic and 50,000 foreign tourists visited Kashmir in 2018, the state that was once considered tourism capital of India is nowhere close to Kerala, which despite being hit by devastating floods during its peak tourism season in monsoon, as per its tourism board received almost 64 lakh tourists from within and outside the country this year.  

Kashmir-based tour trade players say the slump in tourism is largely due to the travel advisories in place and the fragile situation here adding that last year also foreign and domestic tourist footfall to the Valley was abysmal compared to overall arrivals to other states. Manzoor Pakhtoon, chairman, J&K Tourism Alliance says he has been receiving several groups of tourists from South-East Asia countries such as Thailand and Malaysia but added that tour traders are not satisfied with the revival of tourist arrivals. 

“I just had a group of 40 tourists from Thailand but this was only possible when we as tour trade players went all the way there to promote Kashmir. Our potential to attract high-end tourists is much more,” says Pakhtoon. 

Hoteliers and houseboat owners who have been witnessing a decline in occupancy rates say “negative perception” of the valley created by media has done an irreparable damage.

Tour operators say the advisories put in place by several countries especially European nations and the US continues “to be a dampener” for foreign arrivals. 

In 2015, when the Valley was limping back to normal life after devastating 2014 floods, 28,000 foreigners had visited here, the official figures suggest. Only 23,000 foreign tourist arrivals were registered in 2016, which was affected by the unrest after Hizb Commander Burhan Wani was killed by government forces on July 8 that year. 

The impact of the uncertainty in Kashmir is clear on tourism sector and especially that on foriegn tourist arrivals. At Srinagar’s famed Dal Lake, Ghulam Hassan, a shikarawala says efforts of the state and centre to promote Kashmir tourism is in vain unless ‘situation on the ground is conducive’ for tourism. “Look at those houseboats, only 2-3 of them have some groups of Eurpoean tourists staying while others are completely empty,” says Hassan. “What will promotion do when there are no tourists here. We have to win their trust all over again” Hassan says. Restrictions on visit to Kashmir earlier this year put in place by the USA had come as a shock to Kashmir’s tourist fraternity.” 

Mushtaq Chaya, chairman, PHD Chamber – Kashmir chapter says while Gulmarg has been abuzz with tourists for the new years eve but the business coming in last few days of the year is not sufficient for tourism industry.

The state government knowing that foreign tourist arrival is pivotal for Kashmir tourism is now planning to go on an overdrive of promotions. 

Governor’s Advisor, Khurshid Ganai who holds the tourism portfolio told Greater Kashmir that the tourism department will be soon holding a Kashmiri food festival and other promotional activities in South-East Asia to attract more tourists. “It is quite heartening that the number of tourists have been increasing from Malaysia and Thailand and our promotional events in Mumbai, Pune, Gujarat and eastern India will show results in winter and spring seasons. We will take-up issues related to visa fees and advisories with the Union ministry of external affairs soon so that we can welcome more foreigners to the Valley,” Ganai said.

Kashmir witnessed overall brisk tourist arrivals in March and April this year as the Tulip Garden located in the summer capital recorded over 1.83 lakh footfalls including tourists from across the world in one month. The tourist influx which had picked up, took a nosedive after incidents of stone pelting on tourists were reported by sections the national media. Several back to back encounters, restrictions and shutdowns had also put the tourism sector in dire straits.  The much-hyped promotional campaign of Kashmir’s tourism department projecting Kashmir as the “Warmest place on earth” has not had many takers as the situation in the Valley has been fragile since 2016 unrest.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

six + three =