At the start of the year, a glimmer of hope emerged on the horizon for Kashmir’s tourism sector. The hope soon turned into a bonanza, with the tourist footfall steadily rising as the year progressed
The arrival of spring in 2021 brought an important turnaround in Jammu and Kashmir’s tourism sector. As the devastating first wave of COVID-19 ebbed away, encouraging economies across the globe to open up, the Union Territory, specially Valley, registered a steady rise in tourist footfall.
The fortuitous surge in tourist activities was primarily driven by the changing itineraries of the domestic globetrotters. They were confined to the country due to the restrictions on international travel. However, India recorded its best international tourist footfall numbers in the third quarter on 2021 and international tourist arrivals increased globally by 58 per cent between July-September 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation.
At the start of the year, a glimmer of hope emerged on the horizon for Kashmir’s tourism sector. The hope soon turned into a bonanza, with the tourist footfall steadily rising as the year progressed.
Every new month of 2021 broke records in terms of footfall.
By the time the autumn season was at its peak, Srinagar airport had set a new record with 3.5 million arrivals, and the foothills of the Pir Panjal and Zabarwan were hosting national and international golf tournaments with hundreds of top golfers from the country and abroad participating.
The year ended with the peak footfall of nearly 1.5 lakh arrivals in December, the highest monthly figure recorded in many years.
More than six lakh tourists visited Kashmir in a year that was largely lost to the uncertainties of COVID-19, even though the economic situation had improved globally. Of these six lakh tourists, 99 per cent were domestic tourists, many of them from the high-end category, which was also indicated by high air traffic.
At the start of the year, a glimmer of hope emerged on the horizon for Kashmir’s tourism sector. The hope soon turned into a bonanza, with the tourist footfall steadily rising as the year progressed. Image procured by author
“It is the beginning of a new chapter. We are confident that our efforts to promote Kashmir as a tourism destination and the involvement of local stakeholders played a key role in the turnaround,” commissioner secretary, tourism, Sarmad Hafeez, said.
“Apart from local tourists, we witnessed a large flow of high-end tourists in last year. There were people who wanted to go to other tourist destinations to spend their holidays but couldn’t go due to COVID-19 pandemic, and we grabbed the opportunity and attracted them to Kashmir,” Hafeez added.
Kashmir attracted tourists despite two adverse factors; one, the looming threat of the novel coronavirus kept humanity on edge last year, too, due to its ability to churn out new variants. Two, Kashmir being pulled into a vortex of fear and uncertainty due to a spree of targeted killings involving members of minority communities, migrant workers and security forces.
“It is a good sign,” explained a hotelier in Gulmarg, who did not wish to be named. “For a long time, we have been demanding that the political situation should be delinked from the tourism sector. It concerns the livelihood of thousands of people, and now it seems to be happening at the right time.”
But even though Kashmir has started showing on the itinerary of both high-end and budget tourists, the turmoil of the past three decades has stagnated the development of the tourism sector. According to independent estimates, Kashmir cannot accommodate more than 200,000 tourists on a single day.
According to the official details of the Tourism Department Kashmir, the total registered capacity for tourist accommodation in Kashmir is 62,488 beds which include all the hotels of A, B and C category and also the Guest Houses and Houseboats. The ‘A’ category hotels in Srinagar have 8,778-bed capacity, ‘B’ category hotels in Srinagar have 7,036 bed capacity, ‘C’ category hotels in Srinagar have 10,500 bed capacity, Guest Houses have17,114 bed capacity and the registered operational Houseboats have 4,462 bed capacity.
“Srinagar has the highest number of hotels in Kashmir, with estimates putting the number of beds around 48,000,” said Dr Alyas Ahmad, deputy director registration, Tourism Kashmir.
Gulmarg, one of the most preferred and most known tourist destinations in Kashmir, has got just around 800 hotel rooms with a bed capacity of 1,600. Pahalgam, the second most popular in Kashmir, is better placed with 5,000 hotel rooms with 10,000 bed capacity.
While the massive human efforts and an advertising blitzkrieg to attract tourists to Kashmir seem to be bearing fruits, the administration has struggled to focus on the basics. Sonamarg, one of the least explored destinations, can’t accommodate more than 1,500 tourists on a single night. Other tourist destinations such as Yusmarg and Doodhpathri are equally underdeveloped, offering combined accommodation capacity for not more than a few hundred tourists.
However, the government has taken many initiatives to ensure smooth tourism during the winter season. For example: ensuring fewer power cuts at famed destinations. “This winter, we kept Sonmarg and Pahalgam tourist destinations open which would traditionally remain closed during winters,” said Hafeez.
He added that the government ensured uninterrupted power supply. “It is after decades that Pahalgam is currently witnessing 50 per cent occupancy during peak winter. The tourists would usually prefer Gulmarg in winter, but the places like Pahalgam and Sonmarg are no less beautiful in the winter season,” he added.
The private stakeholders associated with tourism have appreciated the efforts taken by the administration and the tourism department. “Despite the third wave of the COVID-19 hampering the tourism sector across the world, we have got good business,” said Farooq Kathoo, president, Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK).
He further said that the hotels in Kashmir currently have an occupancy of over 90 per cent despite the Omicron wave. The hotels are booked till the end of February 2022.
“We are getting bookings for summer also, and the bookings will increase because of the receding cases of COVID-19,” said Farooq.
He also said that Kashmir witnessed a significant number of high-end tourists since the pandemic started as most tourist destinations across the world were restricted.
“All our the rooms are completely sold out till the end of the March 2022,” said Idrees Maqbool of The Khyber Resorts, Gulmarg.
The inclement weather also tested the resilience of the tourism industry on many levels. Due to snow accumulation and dangerous road conditions, the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway remained out of bounds for several days while the operations at Srinagar international airport were hit badly due to the lack of facilities for making the runway safe for take-off and landing of flights.
For a long time the issue of sky-rocketing airfares had adverse impact on the tourism sector in Kashmir. Whenever tourist footfall began picking up, airfares would shoot through the roof, thus discouraging tourists from coming to the Valley.
At times, the cost of flying to Dubai from Delhi would be less than the cost of coming to Kashmir. But the government has also succeeded in keeping a check on prices.
“The uncontrolled airfares was a big issue which would hamper the tourism flow to Kashmir,” said Sarmad Hafeez. “The government took cognizance of it and kept it under control.”
With the industry expanding gradually into the areas of adventure, religion and cultural tourism, shining a light on the rich heritage and natural beauty of Kashmir, the administration needs to do more.
In his three-day visit to Dubai, Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha unveiled plans to allow foreign companies to invest in Kashmir’s promising real estate sector. The people in Kashmir are hopeful that private investment in Kashmir will open new opportunities for employment and a better economy for people.
“The unemployment rate in Kashmir is increasing every day, and the government is not able to absorb all the aspirants in the public sector,” said Faisal Wani, a postgraduate student.
“Private invesment is a better option, and we are hopeful that the initiatives by the government to invite private investors would be a success soon,” Wani added.
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