The Centre on Wednesday disclosed that over one crore tourists have visited Jammu and Kashmir till June this year.
Replying to a question of MP Dinesh Sharma, Minister of state for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Rajya Sabha that the tourism sector in J&K has witnessed unprecedented growth post abrogation of Article 370.
He said 1,08,41,009 tourists visited J&K till June this year so far.
“34,70,834 tourists visited J&K in 2020, 1,13,14,884 in 2021 followed by 1,88,64,332 in 2022 and 2,11,24,874 in 2023,” the minister said.
Rai said J&K government has taken several measures that led to significant improvement in the tourism including Tourism Policy 2020 and status of industry to the tourism sector for availing incentives under the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy 2021.
Other measures include availing of incentives under the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Policy- 2021 considering the status of industry to the tourism sector in the Union Territory.
The minister said the J&K government has notified the homestay guidelines to accommodate the increasing number of tourists and to give benefits to the locals from the economic gains of the tourism sector.
The government has also notified Jammu and Kashmir Film Policy- 2021, and Houseboat Policy – 2020, identified 75 off-beat destinations, said the Minister.
Border tourism has picked up in Jammu and Kashmir and hitherto unknown locations have been opened up for tourism like Gurez, Keran, Teetwal and R S Pura, and the Union Territory is also emerging in adventure and Golf tourism.
“The government of Jammu and Kashmir has undertaken various infrastructure projects to boost the tourism sector and it also is emerging as an international tourist destination after successful hosting of major events such as the 3rd G-20 Tourism Working Group Meeting,” the minister said.
He said modern infrastructure and the growing number of luxury hotels and resorts make Jammu and Kashmir a prime location for destination weddings and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism.
“The government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported that due to the above initiatives, the contribution of Tourism in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has increased from 7.84 per cent in FY 2019-20 to 8.47 per cent in Financial Year 2022-23,” added the Minister.
