Bollywood Promoting Kashmir Tourism

It seems Bollywood is on mission Kashmir to help promoting Kashmir tourism and the other dependent sectors which get benefited from the tourism sector.

After Bollywoods superstar, Amir Khan’s visit to famous Dal lake and other parts of the valley, it was international famed director Rahul Dholakia who came directly from Mumbai to New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan today exclusively to JK Pavilion to interact and boost the morale of the Tourism department and other private sector people who are participating in South Asia’s biggest travel mart SATTE in which there are hundreds of participants from all over the globe besides most of the domestic tour and travel players both from the public and private sector.

Rahul Dholkia was received by Director Tourism, Farooq Ahmed Shah and other senior officials of SKICC and JKTDC. The famed director enjoyed interaction with the houseboat people and representatives of the Tourist bodies from the all the three regions of the state.

Rahul Dholakia while recalling his shooting days in Kashmir said that Kashmir should be promoted globally.

“Its locations can be the best shooting frames for Hollywood,” he said.

He was served Kashmiri kehwa and a traditional Kashmiri dance rauf was played for him.Rahul praised the Kashmiri hospitality and said it was unparalleled in the whole world. He said he will come again to shoot a film which will showcase Kashmiris’ friendliness, hospitality and Sufi culture.“These things have to be projected in the global arena so that people would come to know about it,” he added.

Lack of infrastructure for Winter Tourism

The heavy snowfall that cut-off Kashmir valley from rest of the world by snapping all its road and air links, and left everyone fighting for survival in absence of essentials including heating aides is raising serious doubts about the Jammu and Kashmir government’s ability to host tourists in winter.And by the look of the things the doubt seems quite well placed.

At a time considered peak of winter tourism in Kashmir, the lack of facilities, more than the harsh winter, is forcing away the tourists present in the valley while those likely to visit in the forthcoming weeks have already cancelled the trips.

The situation is creating an impression that the state may not be ready for winter tourism, besides threatening to keep away the tourists in the coming years.

“We have been successfully marketing all seasons in the previous years, but it seems we are not yet ready to sell the winter season,” the president Tour Agents Association of Kashmir, Rauf Tramboo, told JK news.

“The roads here are blocked; the flights are not operating and now the prices of air-tickets are sky-rocketing; and we did not even have electricity and gas supplies. All this is resulting in majority of groups and families cancelling trips to the valley. It has sent a bad signal outside,” he said.

The heavy snowfall left tourists stranded due to valley’s blocked connectivity with the outside world.  The resulting shortage of electricity, cooking gas, essential supplies, however, made the matters worse.   

If the president Houseboat Owners Association, Azim Tuman, is to be believed, the occupancy in the houseboats has come down to zero for the tourists have rushed out due to lack of essential supplies and basic amenities.

“I saw a tourist who was crying literally. He was left without electricity, gas and other essential supplies, and was forced to live on potato and onions. Added to this, the air tickets were so expensive that he could not afford to move out,” shared Tuman, “Naturally under such circumstances, the tourists are running away, leaving the houseboats empty.”For the similar reasons, the occupancy in the hotels is down to 25 to 30 per cent.

“When electricity was not available, we required firewood and kerosene to keep the tourists warm, but it was not available. It has sent a wrong signal outside and it proves that we lack infrastructure for winter tourism,” Siraj said.

New Tourism destinations

Lolab, Bangus, Drangyari open new vistas of tourism

Bringing of Lolab, Bangus, Drangyari on the tourism map would open new vistas of tourism activities in the State and help to boost the local economy and provide a healthy environment for tourism trade in Kupwara district, which has been conferred a status of Tourism Development Authority.

The views were expressed by the Tourism and Culture Minister, Nawang Rigzin Jora while chairing maiden meeting of the Authority members held here on Thursday.

Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Nasir Aslam Wani, who was also Vice Chairman of LBDDA was present in the meeting.

Mr Jora said creation of tourism related infrastructure at these destinations would remain priority. He said this fiscal year Rs one crore under State sector is being expended on creation of varied infrastructure in these destinations, adding the Government would soon submit Rs 5 crore project for creation of modern tourist facilities at Lolab and Drangyari spots to the Centre for approval. He directed the concerned authorities to formulate more projects reports for approval of the Centre under central schemes so that holistic tourism infrastructure building would be ensured in the area.

Legislators of Kupwara district, Ch Mohammad Ramzan, Haq Nawaz, Er. Abdul Rashid, Commissioner/Secretary Tourism, Atul Duloo, Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Director General Finance, Mangotra, Special Secretary Tourism, Altaf Ahmad, Additional Dostrict Development Commissioner Kupwara, Itrat Hussain, Chief Executive Officer LBDDA, Mr Mohammad Yasin, besides senior officers of Forest, PHE, R&B, PDD were among others attended the meeting.

The meeting deliberated upon the modalities, jurisdiction and infrastructure development under the Authority.

The legislators gave their view points and suggestions for exploring fully the tourism potential of their areas.

Mr Jora assured the legislators that focused attention would be given for promotion of tourism activities in all potential areas of the district in a phased manner, adding the matters like upgradation of road connectivity, electricity and drinking water facilities, besides land acquisition and forest matters would be taken up with concerned Ministries to solve impediments confronting for creation of tourism infrastructure facilities in the area.

Tourist rush in Kashmir

An increasing tourist rush in the valley is proving to be costlier for locals who wish to travel by air owing to an all time high air fares which on the other hand is not proving to be beneficial for the travel agents too.

Air travel has jumped twice/ thrice of its original rates with a boost in the tourists influx. Subsequently, some locals who are not able to afford the air travel have to now travel by road as the prices of tickets are too high and the reservations are being made months before.

Mahipal Singh, a tourist told Kashmir Times, “I paid around Rs 40,000 from Chandigarh for a round trip for myself and three more family members. The prices are very high but we still managed to get a discount by the government agency office.”

Meanwhile, the valley based travel and tourism agents say that they have not been able to derive any benefits from air fare hike since the tourists get their tickets reserved from outside J&K which includes a two way trip.

“Prices are going as high as Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 for a one way trip, and the lowest these days are around Rs 5,000,” said Nasir Khan, from Shiraz Travel agency“Its not proving beneficial for us since the tourist generally make a round trip reservation from outside, so more of tourists and hike in air tickets is doing us no good,” he added. However agreeing to the change of prices due to the inflow of tourists he also added that rise in prices also mean that the locals of Kashmir have to suffer since they can not afford such exorbitant prices for air tickets. In such cases they prefer traveling by other means of transport like by road or stopping halfway in Jammu and then further taking a train to Delhi.

“The traffic on the highway has increased over the months. One reason being it is the tourist season in Kashmir and other reason being the rise in prices of air ticket,” the tourism department officials said.

J&K top destination for all tourists

Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzin Jora, today extended a warm invitation to the people of Rajasthan to visit Jammu and Kashmir, a great land on earth known for its aesthetic splendor and magnificence.

The Minister was interacting with tour operators and media persons at a road show held at Jaipur in Rajasthan, organized by J&K Tourism Department.

The event was celebrated on the sidelines of "The Great Indian Travel Bazaar" (GITB). A number of foreign travel operators (FTOs) from South Africa, Japan, UK, USA, Germany, Thailand, China, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, local agents from Jaipur, besides members of the travel trade fraternity of the State participated in the event.

Mr. Jora said the beautiful tourist places of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were awaiting tourists from Rajasthan, which has traditionally been a great market for the J&K State. He added that the people of Rajasthan have always had a great fascination for the myriad tourist attractions of J&K, particularly the revered shrines of Shri Amarnath Ji and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.

The Minister further added that tourist infrastructure had significantly been strengthened and upgraded at various resorts in the State, the people of which are known for incredible hospitality. He said State's people were bracing up for approaching tourist season. He said varied tourist attractions was created to receive tourists round the year and it was expected that a large number of tourists from Rajasthan as well as other states of the country would visit J&K for leisure and adventure tourism as well as pilgrimages.

The Minister also threw light on the initiatives and tourism products of the State particularly golf, adventure tourism (skiing, trekking, water sports) and pilgrim tourism.

Mementos were presented to all FTOs and a power point presentation highlighting the tourism potential of all three regions of the State was also given which was greatly appreciated by the audience.

The tour and travel operators of Rajasthan informed that they were keen to offer various tour packages for J&K State and assured the Minister that maximum number of tourists from other parts of the country would be visiting Jammu and Kashmir this year.

The Minister was accompanied by Director Tourism, Kashmir, Farooq Ahmed Shah, Deputy Director Tourism, Abid Maqbool Bhat, Dy. Director Tourism, General Manager, JKTDC, Shamim Wani, besides other senior officers of the department.

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July 2011 News
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