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.

Peace in Kashmir is New Year eve hotspot for tourists

With unrests out of the way at least for the time being, Kashmir seems tourists’ new preferred destination for New Year eve celebrations.With the New Year eve-December 31-just round the corner, the tourists are flying in “exceptional numbers” only to welcome 2012 from the snow clad and chilly highlands and mountains. The occupancy in hotels and guest houses is already on a high, and counting.

“We are having an exceptional rush this winter. All flights arriving here today were fully percent booked with tourists and we have the same for tomorrow and Saturday,” the president tour agents association of Kashmir, Rauf Tramboo, told News Agency.The visitors include the ‘high end’ tourists specially flying in for the weekend.“Since this New Year falls on a weekend, we have high end tourists coming in just to be here on the New Year eve. They may stay for a couple of days,” Tramboo added.As per the estimates the hotels and guest houses are up to 60 percent occupied, but the highest rush is seen at snow clad Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The recent snowfall and cold weather is proving the added attraction.

“The hotels at Gulmarg and Pahalgam are almost full because tourists want to enjoy the snow. We have good rush in Srinagar hotels also,” the president Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Federation (KHAROF), Faiz Ahmad Bakhshi, said.Kashmir has witnessed a relatively calm year after unrest consumed, almost completely, last three tourism seasons. The 2008, 2009 and 2010 all saw a good beginning to the tourist season, but later it turned ugly with unrest. As against 7.38 lakh tourists who visited Kashmir last year despite the unrest, the number this year has been an unprecedented 11 Lakh.However, it is after 1988 that Kashmir is witnessing rush.

“In comparison to previous years this has been the best in terms of the tourist inflow. It is after start of militancy that we are witnessing such rush,” Faiz said.While the typical New Year parties are avoided, the state tourism department and hoteliers have small time events lined up just to attract the tourists.And, for the winter tourists the tourism department has also has planned various adventurous events to woo both foreign and domestic tourists.“These will include normal skiing, ice skating, heli-skiing and snow carnivals to attract tourists,” a senior officials in the department said.

Govt orders vacations in winter zone

The state government today ordered winter vacations for all government educational institutions and recognized private schools upto higher secondary level falling in Kashmir division and winter zones of Jammu division.
Schools under middle standard shall observe winter break from December 1, 2011 upto February 29, 2012.
The high and higher secondary schools shall observe winter break with effect from  December 12, 2011 upto February 2012. Any default on the part of private schools in observance of the calendar of vacations shall attract action under rules, an official spokesman said.

Aharbal project

Govt to submit Rs 9.56 cr Aharbal project to New Delhi

With a view to create added infrastructure facilities at Aharbal tourist destination, State Tourism Department is going to submit Rs 9.56 crore Detailed Project Report (DPR) to Union Ministry of Tourism for approval, under which besides construction of other tourism related infrastructure, 20-room bud-geted accommodation would be also constructed.

This was stated by Tourism and Culture Minister, Nawang Rigzin Jora while chairing 3rd meeting of Aharbal Development Authority (ADA) held here today to review physical and financial achievements of the Authority.

Chief Executive Officer ADA presented a power-point presentation depicting physical and financial achieve-ments registered by the authority for development of varied tourism infrastructure facilities in the area.

The meeting approved current years action plan of Rs one crore for the authority and action taken report on decisions of 2nd meeting of ADA were also confirmed in the meeting.The meeting was informed that the exercise for formulation of Master Plan has been completed and base plans prepared. Due to inclusion of some more areas, the exercise would take some more time and draft Master Plan of ADA would be ready by this year.The meeting was told that the construction of cafeteria, four huts have been completed, and are ready for inauguration. It was also told that work on Rs 2 crore TRC building is in progress and would be completed during this financial year.The Chief Executive Officers also informed the meeting that Red Accounts of the authority upto May 2011 have been cleared and contingent bills laying under objection from April 2006 till date have been got adjusted and cleared from the books of accounts of Principal Accountant General A&E.The Minister laid stress on completion of all ongoing projects with judicious use of funds and quality material for laying durable and attractive infrastructure for the tourists. He also directed all Chief Executive Officers of the authorities to register number of tourists visiting at tourist spots under their jurisdiction.Minister for Social Welfare, Sakina Itoo, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Nasir Aslam Wani, Commissioner/Secretary Tourism and Culture, Atul Duloo, Director Tourism Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Director General Finance, Mangotra, also attended the meeting.

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.

Jammu Kashmir Travel Advisories

J&K to take up travel advisories issue with foreign countries

Chief minister Omar Abdullah today said his government will take up with different countries through centre the issue regarding travel related advisories.

European countries had issued the advisories to their citizens not to visit Kashmir due to the disturbing conditions.

Omar was talking to reporters on the sidelines of sports function at Sher-i-Kashmir Indoor Stadium here today. Chief minister said the situation in Kashmir has improved and things are returning to normal. “People from all the countries should visit Kashmir as they can now move freely given the improvement in the situation,” he opined.

Chief minister said the countries that had issued the advisories should think once again as the situation has improved a lot here. “Before some years a local was afraid to go to Aru-Pahalgam but these days tourists can go to every corner of valley without any fear,” he said.

Replying to a question about the work culture in valley, he said that work culture got a major setback during the last two decades but now the improvement is visible. “We are hopeful that this improvement will continue,” chief minister said.

“Our work culture has suffered a lot a for last 20 years but now the trend is changing and the improvement can be seen on the ground level,” Omar said adding that he was  waiting for one  good season, so that  remaining works are completed.

To a question as to why government did not organize any national event in valley three years before, chief minister said situation in Kashmir was not suitable to organize any tournament at that time.

“Before few years we were not having any law or order problem in valley but the militancy related incidents were prevalent in the state,” Omar said adding that tournaments could not be held in valley due to law and order problem.

Appreciating the players who are participating in table tennis championship, which is held after the gap of 24 years in the valley, Omar said, “It is just a beginning.”

Omar said that nobody might have thought that the Sher-i-Kashmir Indoor Stadium would be used again for the sports activities. But now time has changed and people are coming to valley to play.

“It was unfortunate that this stadium (Sher-i-Kashmir indoor) was occupied by the security forces in the past. Then it was converted into passport office but now it will be used only for sports activities,” he said.

He assured up gradation of sports stadium. “In coming time sound and lighting system would be improved further and players would not face any difficulty while playing in this stadium,” Omar assured.

Heavy rush of tourists in Kashmir

Kashmir is witnessing heavy rush of tourists particularly at Gulmarg and Pahalgam these days.The picturesque places mesmerize the visitors and they want to spend some days at tourist spots to save themselves from the intense hot weather back at their homes.

“This year number of tourists is much more than expected. In comparison to previous years this month is having more visitors which is increasing day by day,” said Ali Mohammad an owner of a hotel at Gulmarg.

He said, “More tourists are expected to come, since this is just the beginning of tourist season.”

There is also a heavy rush for Gondola riding from Gulmarg to Kongdoru. The official from gondola department says that this year there is an unusual inflow of tourists.

“The rush isso heavy that we fall short of tickets at times,” said gondola ticket distributor who insisted not to be named. He added that he hardly gets time for lunch.

While as in Pahalgam the tale also seems to be same prior to Amaranth Yatra. Both natives and outsiders visit the place whose beauty is added by gushing water of Lidder.

“Now the yatra is starting from 29 of this month,so it becomes difficult then to visit here. For that reason we visit early,” said Mohammad Bari who is on a visit here along with his family.

Since some persons claim that tourists influx gets affected due to the tense situation in Kashmir. But with situation calm this time they expect tourist rush to continue.

“We had a plan for last two months to visit here. But due to the personal problem we could not. But after the problem got resolved, we reached here. Next time we will come earlier so that we can stay for more days,” said another tourist Baljeet Ssingh, who had come here with 19 other tourists.

Tourists rush to Gulmarag

With soaring temperature outside state, tourist inflow to Kashmir is increasing to the world famous Dal Lake and Gulmarg which appears to be the main attraction for domestic and foreign visitors.

Thousands of tourists have thronged to gardens of Nishat Shalimar, Cheshma Shahi, Pari Mahal and Harwan along the periphery of Zabarwan hills overlooking the serene waters of the Dal lake.

Long queues of visitors were seen at the Botanical Garden which are witnessing huge rush of tourists as visitors enjoy visiting the garden to click pictures and make videos.

Hoteliers’, ponnywalas, and traders are hopeful of a good business now a day. Their only apprehension is that unlike summer last year, the summer ahead should remain peaceful.

“We are hopeful of a good business and so far tourist inflow to the valley is picking up. Visitors from foreign countries are in good numbers and almost every hotel here is doing a good business. We wish the summer this year remains violence-free and that will immensely multiply the rush of visitors in coming months too,” said an hotelier in Srinagar.

Like hoteliers, Shikariwalas and houseboat owners also expressed their satisfaction over the tourist flow and hoped that the rush will increase manifold in coming weeks. Cold winds blowing along the world famous Dal Lake in the evenings attract tourists to the lake.

Tourists take Shikara ride and many others prefer to stroll around Dal Lake in the evenings. The boulevard road witnesses huge flow of traffic especially in the evening as locals also move out to the banks of Dal Lake to pass leisurely time.

Public parks including the Zabarwan Park, Nishat and Shalimar garden also witness good flow of visitors and locals. Reports from Pahalgam said that good numbers of visitors were visiting the tourist destination and the hoteliers, traders and ponnywalas were doing a good business.

The state’s Tourism Department has also offered more programmes with added facilities to attract larger number of domestic and foreign tourists to the valley this year to boost the shattered economy through the major tourism industry.

20 new tourist destinations for j&k

The Union Tourism Ministry has decided to identify 20 new tourist destinations in the State and set a huge amount for development of three mega circuits. The Ministry intended to hold a laser show in the Dal lake in order to woo tourists from both within the country and outside.

"Jammu and Kashmir topped our priority for the promotion of tourism across the country. At the same time, we would like this State to come up as a favourite destination for tourists coming from different parts of the world. A complete mapping of the State has been carried out and we have identified 20 new tourist destinations across the State," said Union Minister for Tourism, Subodh Kant Sahay while addressing a press conference here.

He said that his Ministry would hire services of a world class consultant for proper development of these new tourist destinations adding that the consultant would be entrusted with the responsibility of attracting the attention of world class investors in tourism sector.

"Only 0.6 percent of tourists come to visit India and this I believe is nothing. We have to pull up our socks and do the needful in this respect. In the next five years we intended to take this figure to one percent and for the same we have drawn a comprehensive plan. The tourists coming from across the globe to India need to be given some packages. There are 28 world class heritage sites in the country and they are required to be promoted to the best possible level," said Sahay.

The Union Tourism Minister said that Rs 25 crores each have been sanctioned for three mega circuits in the State adding that amount would be spent on Naagar Nagar (Kashmir), Mubarak Mandi (Jammu) and Ladakh. He said that the Tourism Ministry has sanctioned Rs 128 crores during 10th Five Year Plan for the various Centrally sponsored tourism projects and the figure stood at Rs 219 crores during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Mr Sahay said that the State Tourism Ministry would create tourism trade investor policy and according to the same infrastructure in form of hotels and exhibition parks would be created. He said that the biggest challenge for the Tourism Ministry is to sustain the interest of tourists in the State and make them to stay here for a week or more than that.

"The State Tourism Department has already drawn up its calendar of activities for this year but still then we want them to add on some more events. We intend to hold a laser show at Dal lake and revive the light and sound festival at Shalimar. It would be our endeavour to revive Shikara festival as well. Lot of spiritual tourists visit Jammu and it would be in tune if some more packages are offered to people visiting Jammu," he said.

Mr Sahay said that the tourism was required to be given the status of an infrastructure industry and hoped that the State Tourism Department would do something in this regard. He asked the local hoteliers to encourage youth living in the vicinity of Manasbal lake to set up cottage type accommodation so that tourists could visit them and a boost is given to the rural tourism.

"An amount of Rs 5 crores would be given for developing arts and crafts Haat in the State on the pattern of Delhi Haat. We will also facilitate participation of private entrepreneurs and stake holders for development of various destinations under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode," Mr Sahay said.

Sharing his views the Union Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmad said that space would be given to Kashmir in Geneva festival adding that State would be asked to display Shikara during the festival. He said a print media cum production campaign for the promotion of tourism in Kashmir would be carried out from Dubai to Toronto. He said that Kashmir can easily be compared with Switzerland or Scotland when it comes to tourism and tourist destinations.

Asserting that hygiene and sanitary conditions at key tourism destinations is one of the major areas of concern, Sahay said joint efforts are needed to provide adequate facilities to the visitors, both domestic and foreign, to make their holiday memorable.

"There has to be synergy of efforts between Centre, State Governments and Union Territory Administration and the private sector to develop the tourism destinations in an integrated way by providing the necessary facilities and making the experience pleasurable to the visitors, both domestic and foreign," Sahay said.

He also announced setting up of Joint Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir, representatives of State Government and representatives of Union Tourism Ministry for speedy implementation of Centrally financed tourism projects in the State.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today asked Centre to allow direct international flights to the Valley for boosting the tourism sector in the State.

Addressing a tourism conference organised by FICCI here, Omar emphasized the need of facilitating tourists from South-East Asia and Middle-East to visit the Valley by operating direct flights.

Terming connectivity as an important ingredient for facilitating inflow of tourists, he strongly advocated operationalizing international flights by the Air India from and to Srinagar Airport.

"This would give fillip to the arrival of international tourist traffic to the Valley. Air India should not make the profitability its yardstick for operating international flights at Srinagar International Airport," Omar said.

The Chief Minister also called for rescheduling the flight timings between Delhi and Srinagar.

"We have already taken up the matter with the Civil Aviation Ministry for operationalizing the time chart for Delhi-Srinagar flights where under the first flight from Delhi should reach Srinagar Airport at 7.00 am and the last flight leaves from here at 6.00 pm," he said.

Omar said these steps would greatly facilitate the inflow of tourists to Jammu and Kashmir.

He said new tourist markets—Russia, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan need to be explored for diverting tourist traffic to Kashmir as the tourist rush to India from these countries is increasing phenomenally.

Underlining tourism as one of the major components in State’s economy, he expressed hope that tourism will pick up this season gradually to compensate for the losses incurred during the last three summer unrests.

He asked the Union Tourism Ministry to help in diverting various national and international conferences to SKICC where there is up to the mark infrastructure facilities for such conferences and the weather is most pleasant in this part of the country.

Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay asked the State Tourism Department to formulate a comprehensive project for showcasing ‘Sufi Circuit’ as tourist destination.

"My Ministry will provide you all help in this regard. You have greater potential for attracting domestic and foreign tourists to visit spiritual places in the State," he said.

He said new tourist markets—Russia, Malaysia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Japan need to be explored for diverting tourist traffic to Kashmir as the tourist rush to India from these countries is increasing phenomenally.

Underlining tourism as one of the major components in the State’s economy, he expressed hope that tourism will gradually pick up this season.

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.

Tourists rush to Gulmarag
July 2011 News
Jammu University Results 2011