Fresh snowfall in Kashmir has brought some cheer to the local travel trade players who are presently busy promoting the Valley in various parts of the country.
The upbeat tour operators from various parts of the country told Greater Kashmir that their promotional programmes have received “good response” in the wake of snowfall in Kashmir.
The local tour operators presently promoting the Valley in different cities including Delhi, Pune, Nagpur and Mumbai said, “The season’s snowfall has come at the most appropriate time as it has evoked lot of interest among the intending tourists.”
Wahid Malik, president, Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Federation (KHAROF), who is part of the ongoing road-shows told Greater Kashmir that the good public response in these promotional campaigns is “helping a lot to overcome the negative portrayal of Kashmir which has been created by a section of media during last few years.”
“We have been doing promotional walks and cycle rallies and meeting the people. During our interaction with the Maharashtra-based media and local tourism players, we realized that they are very curious to know about safety of tourists, and new destinations in Kashmir,” Malik said.
He said during their promotional campaign in Pune, KHAROF members including 450 hoteliers announced “30 per cent discount to tourists from this city”.
Continuing their promotional spree, the tourism players from Kashmir are also scheduled to participate in Tourism Travel Fair in Mumbai scheduled on January 24 and 25, followed by promotional activities in Ahmadabad and Nagpur.
“Some fringe elements in places like Pune, Ahmedabad and Nagpur had created a vicious atmosphere against Kashmir and even started a boycott campaign. But the snowfall back home has brought such delight that it has helped us tackle the negativity,” said a tour operator wishing not to be named.
It may be mentioned that in order to encourage tourist inflow from South-East Asia to the valley, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry will hold tourism promotion campaign in Malaysia soon.
“With the assistance of the directorate of tourism Kashmir, the KCCI will be doing tourism promotion on the international market for the first time,” said Sheikh Ashiq, president, KCCI.
“We are hopeful that this promotion will help increase 13000-15000 Malaysian tourists who visited the Valley in 2018,” Ashiq added.
PHD Chamber (Kashmir chapter), chairman, Mushtaq Chaya told Greater Kashmir that tourist bookings have picked-up since “the Christmas and the new year.”
“The Christmas and the new year celebrations witnessed entire Gulmarg packed. The snowfall this year is a good sign for tourism. Booking inquiries have picked up and we hope a good footfall,” Chaya said.
In order to promote Kashmir, a road-show will be held by the J&K Hoteliers’ Club in Mumbai in the first week of February which will be lead by a senior official from the governor administration, he said.