This winter, Kashmir sees highest ever tourist arrivals

The tourism sector in Kashmir is witnessing a boom with the Valley recording highest-ever tourist footfall this winter.

“The figure is the highest-ever so far compared to any season and we expect further increase in the footfall of tourists in Kashmir in coming months,” J&K Chief Secretary A K Mehta told reporters after inaugurating the Tulip festival at Asia's largest tulip garden, here.

According to official figures, in four months from November 2021 to February this year, 4,47,096 tourists arrived in Kashmir compared to 2,12,809 previous year during the same period. Tourist footfall in 2018 during the same months was 2,19,442 while in 2019, it was 71,041.

In the first 21 days of March, already 1.05 lakh tourists have arrived in Kashmir and the number is expected to cross 1.50 lakh by the end of the month.

The tourism sector in Kashmir was badly hit post August 5, 2019, when the Centre revoked the erstwhile state’s special status and subsequently imposed a security and communication lockdown.

As things were settling, Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 shattered the dreams of revival of the tourism sector in the Valley. However, since October 2021, tourists again started flocking to Kashmir.

Ahsan-ul-Haq, Deputy Director Tourism says that this winter, besides ski-resort Gulmarg, the other tourist stations like Pahalgam and Sonamarg remained abuzz with tourists. “In the previous years, during winter months, tourists would come to Gulmarg only. But now other places have opened up as well,” he told DH.

He said this winter, besides hotels and guesthouses, houseboats at the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar too were fully booked which is unprecedented. This, notably, has provided huge employment to locals and the continuous snowfall this winter also came in the way of blessings for people associated with tourism.

To woo tourists back to Kashmir after turbulent times, J&K Tourism Department had last year started its promotional campaign among the various tourism markets across the country. The department participated in the Travel and Tourism Fair at Bangalore and India Travel Mart at Ahmedabad.

With the opening of the Tulip Garden on the foothills of Zabarwan range overlooking the Dal Lake on Wednesday, the rush of tourists is expected to reach an all-time high. The garden, spread over 120 acres, was ranked fourth biggest tulip garden among the world’s biggest tulip gardens by the World Tulip Society in 2017.

It was also touted among the top five tulip destinations in the world at the Tulip Summit in Canada in 2017. Tulips in Kashmir remain in bloom for 15-20 days from the last week of March to mid-April depending on the temperature. This year, the garden houses 1.5 million flowers of tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and muscari.

The tourism industry has faced an accelerated growth with holistic support from local communities who are involved directly and indirectly in this industry.

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