After the drop in number of south Indian tourists visiting Kashmir due to the death of a Chennai tourist in a stone pelting incident at Narbal on May 8 this year, tourism players and the government is now taking up different steps to encourage people from southern states to visit Kashmir.
For the tourism players, south India has proved to be a ray of hope, when tourist footfall was at its lowest after 2016 unrest. However, the number of the visitors from these southern states also declined from the early summer this year.
A group of Tamil tourist whose vehicles were caught in a stone throwing protest near Narbal in May saw death of a tourist Thirumani. Soon after the Chennai tourist’s death, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami had sought help from J&K Government for the safe return of 130 tourists from Kashmir. With tourist inquires from states such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh having witnessed a decline after killing of Chennai tourist, tourism players are keen to now encourage people from down south and motivate them overcome the ‘fear and apprehensions” for visiting the Valley.
Tassaduq Jeelani, director tourism, Kashmir said they are hoping for a “considerable number” of footfalls from southern states in forthcoming autumn season. The impact of “negative media publicity” on south Indian tourists had lead to a drop in their arrivals since last 3 months but travel inquiries from down south have picked up off late, he said.
“Number of people from five southern states has dwindled after the tragic incident. But thankfully people in south, unlike other parts are less influenced by the ‘negative publicity’ of national media so they continue to visit us,” said Jeelani. “This weekend I am going to visit Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Then we will move to Bengaluru and Chennai to hold promotional events there. Apart from the local tour operators we would be inviting bloggers and journalists,” he added.
Jeelani while recently addressing tour operators had urged them that apart from traditional tourist markets such as Maharashtra and Gujarat newer markets such as South India should be explored.
“We usually used to bank a lot on Gujarat and Maharashtra but now we need to change that strategy and explore South India as a potential tourist market as well,” Jeelani said.
J&K government has recently handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the deceased Chennai tourist. After the killing of the tourist on May 8 this year the state had also handed over a cash amount of Rs 2 lakh to the bereaved family. While assuring that Kashmir continues to be safe place for tourists, Jeelani urged the travel agents in Chennai to keep promoting Kashmir. He said South India especially Chennai is emerging as good market and J&K receives good flow of tourists from these places. He said under GoI scheme ‘Ek Bharat Shesh Bharat’, both the states are promoting the tourism of each state.
Kashmir witnessed brisk tourist arrivals in March and April this year as the Tulip Garden located in the summer capital recorded a huge footfalls including tourists from across the world in one month. The tourist influx which had picked up, took a nosedive after incidents of stone pelting on tourists were reported by sections the national media. Several back to back encounters, restrictions and shutdowns had also put the tourism sector in dire straits.
Jeelani said the department will also be holding rigorous campaigns in Maharashtra and Gujarat to attract maximum tourists to Valley. “After deep slump, there is need for much needed turnaround for Kashmir’s tourism sector. Autumn and winter season is looking very promising but conducive situation is an important pre-requisite to attract tourists here,” Jeelani said.
