Only ten lakh tourists visited Kashmir in 2017: Trade Body
Srinagar: The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCC&I) has expressed concern over the meagre number of tourist arrivals in Jammu and Kashmir especially Kashmir valley as compared to the other states of late.
KCC&I President Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad said that only 10 lakh tourists had visited Kashmir during 2017.
Out of the 73 lakhs tourists, who visited Jammu and Kashmir during 2017-18, only 13.1 lakh tourists had visited Kashmir including more than 2 lakh yatris visiting the Amarnath cave that year.
“Around sixty lakh visitors are pilgrims visiting the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine and around 2-3 lakh visitors have visited Ladakh. So, in fact around 10 lakh tourists have visited Kashmir in the year 2017,” he said.
He said that around the same number of tourists was visiting Kashmir even more than thirty years ago.
While most of the states had been witnessing a steady double digit percentage growth in the number of inbound tourists, Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing a downslide, he added.
“Even the number of pilgrims visiting the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine has witnessed a steady drop. From a peak in the year 2012 of around 103.9 lacs, the year 2017 only attracted 57.40 lacs pilgrims to Katra,” Ahmad said.
The KCC&I informed that 3.35 crore tourist have visited Bihar in 2017, while 4.75 crore, 23.70 crores, 33.83 crore and 1.58 crore tourist have visited Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively.
Although the state government and tourism players were putting their best efforts to attract tourists and limit the damages, Ahmad said the frequent closure of the road link and exorbitant air fares had dealt a serious blow to such efforts.
“The State of Jammu and Kashmir has not been able to take advantage of the huge potential of the tourism sector,” he said.
Pilgrim tourism, he said, was a major component of tourist inflow for most of the states and Kashmir with a large number of sufi shrines and religious sites holds a huge untapped potential in this regard, the KCCI said.
It said the state would also need to consider the sensitive nature of the tourism business and customize security considerations accordingly. “Tourism cannot survive if tourists are made to undergo frequent frisking and travel restrictions”.
The KCCI appreciated the state government saying it had “indicated its seriousness about the focus on tourism by making several changes in the Department of Tourism”.
It said in view of the large number of people associated with the tourism sector, “Major policy changes are required for the revival of this sector”. “The Government would need to provide stability by assigning responsibilities for longer durations to efficient and competent officers and also to provide budgetary support at par with other tourist destination states,” it said.
Sheikh Ashiq also thanked the government for giving Tourism charge to Navin Kumar Choudhary, a senior most officer of the state administration.
The KCCI said that in view of Choudhry’s “positive and helpful style of working, the transfer has been widely welcomed by the Travel and Tourism sector”.
“With the stakeholders having high expectations, the Government also needs to create an environment conducive for officers to deliver their best for the revival of this important sector of our economy,” Ashiq said in a statement.
He said the tourism sector of the state has suffered the major brunt of vagaries associated with the prevailing situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir as also various policy changes like implementation of GST etc.
Despite the acknowledgement of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture about the manifold negative impact of GST on the Tourism Sector and recommending review of the same, Ashiq said that “no tangible decision has been taken in this regard”.
“The State has while declaring the Tourism Sector as an Industry has been very close fisted in providing the incentives of industrial sector to the tourism industry. The announcement of charging of power tariff at par with the industrial sector stands withdrawn within a year, he added.
KV News
