Covid-19 second wave 'washes away' J&K's summer tourism earnings, puts industry back to square one

With massive cancellation of holiday bookings for the upcoming summer season, the second wave of Covid-19 has once again put the tourism industry in Kashmir back to square one.

The tourist influx to Kashmir had seen an increase since January this year, after a hiatus of almost two years. The tourism sector was badly hit after the revocation of J&K’s special status in August 2019 which was followed by a strict security and communication clampdown.

And when things were starting to improve last March, Covid-19 lockdown again resulted in a huge loss to the people associated with the tourism sector. But since late last year, J&K government took several initiatives to bring tourists back which had started yielding positive results.

The aggressive campaigning by the Tourism department had also attracted several filmmakers to shoot their films here. The hotel bookings also went up with the direct flight services from various cities like Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

“Since January the tourists had started coming in huge numbers and we were expecting a good summer this year,” said president Travel Agent Society of Kashmir, Mir Anwar.

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He, however, lamented the resurgence of Covid-19 has “washed away “the entire summer. “All the bookings have been cancelled and there are no signs of a revival of tourism ahead of the summer season. As everyone is trying to save his life by staying indoors, all the pre-bookings till May end stands cancelled,” Anwar said.

Chairperson Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Alliance, Manzoor Ahmad Paktoon said that around 80% of the houseboats and hotels in Kashmir are empty in the last three weeks.

“The tourists who have pre-booked and have no option to refund are in the Valley right now. Rest of the visitors have either cancelled or shortened their visit,” he said.

Thousands of families that rely on tourism and allied sectors have been out of work and struggling to stay afloat. The tourism sector is a significant contributor to Jammu and Kashmir’s economy and accounts for around seven per cent of the region’s gross domestic product, according to Jammu and Kashmir government’s estimates.