87% decline in tourist footfall in Kashmir in Aug-Nov

The number of tourists coming to Kashmir has drastically gone down to 32,000 from 2.49 lakh tourists visiting Kashmir between August and November last year due to prevailing uncertainty in the Valley.

Days ahead of the August 5 decision of the Centre to abrogate provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating it into union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, the government issued an advisory asking tourists and pilgrims to leave the Valley immediately. The advisory was officially lifted on October 10.

According to the figures compiled by the Tourism Department in Kashmir, there has been a steep decline of 87% from the 2.49 lakh domestic tourists Kashmir had hosted between August-November 2018. In terms of foreign tourist arrivals, the dip is 82%. In June and July this year, the Valley received 1.62 lakh and 1.49 lakh domestic tourists respectively.

In October 9,327 tourists visited Kashmir. In November 10,946 domestic and 1,140 foreign tourists visited Kashmir which was more than double the number of visitors in September. The foreign tourists are mostly from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia, and Indonesia.

“When travel advisory was issued in early August, it created a fear psychosis within and outside the valley. Tourists left in a hurry and after that nobody was ready to return back. However, since November there has been a slight improvement in tourist arrivals,” an official of the tourism department told DH.

He said despite several countries issuing advisories not to travel to Kashmir, 3,413 foreigners visited the valley from August to November. “We are hopeful that the situation will improve in the coming months. If the ban on the internet is lifted, it will have a huge impact on the flow of tourists to Kashmir,” the official added.

Lateef Lone, a hotel and restaurant owner in Lal Chowk says from the government, the tourism industry needs serious handholding as it is on the ventilator. “We need bailout packages to survive these difficult times. The last four months were really tough for the tourism industry of Kashmir and if immediate steps are not to take to revive it, most of the people associated with it will lose their livelihood means,” he said.

The tourism, handicraft and e-commerce sectors were the worst hit by the situation post-August 5. According to the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Valley’s economy has suffered losses worth Rs 15,000 crore since August 5. “Our conservative estimates put the losses to the Kashmir economy due to the situation after August 5 at Rs 15,000 crore,” KCCI president Sheikh Ashiq told DH.

“We will be coming up with comprehensive data about the losses soon,” he added.

However, for the moment tourists, who are visiting Kashmir are enjoying its hospitality despite prevailing uncertainty. Rahul Khanna from Mumbai, who spent five days in Kashmir with his family, was delighted to be here. “It was really a joyous trip for me and my family. We will never forget the hospitable and caring people of Kashmir,” he told DH.

“Kashmir has innumerable prehistoric and historic sites which need to be preserved and information about their importance and relevance be propagated to the people within the state and in different parts of the country,” he said.