White winter raises hope for J&K tourism

Unlike most individuals, six toes of snow and the thermometer at minus 10 levels Celsius is not any trigger for fear for Asif Iqbal Burza. The hotelier, who owns the Heaven Resorts in Gulmarg, north Kashmir’s ski capital, is in actual fact overjoyed.

For the primary time in 15 months, Mr. Burza is joyful to re-employ employees whom he needed to lay off within the wake of the August 5, 2019 move to end J&K’s special status. As did some 1,500 different motels within the Kashmir Valley.

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“We had to stop hiring services such as security, laundry and transport. We retained a bare minimum staff and negotiated their salaries. We all understood it was going to be a long haul. However, it seems the good days are back. Gulmarg witnessed a very, very good season in the past two months. My hotel, like others, was booked for December and January,” he mentioned.

The COVID-19 pandemic has additionally proved a blessing because it has compelled hoteliers to rent extra employees. “We won’t mind hiring more people as long as tourists keep a tryst with Kashmir,” Mr. Burza added.

The present fillip to tourism is the primary silver lining for the moribund hospitality trade in Kashmir, first battered by the post-August 5 shutdown after which dented additional by the pandemic-induced lockdown. According to the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, round 65,000 folks misplaced jobs within the tourism sector publish August 5, with the trade struggling a lack of ₹2,615 crore.

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The newest footfall figures from the J&K Tourism Department present that the favored vacation spot, although mired in bouts of unrest, has retained its maintain over guests from the nation and overseas. “Out of the 34,025 tourists who visited Kashmir this year, 3,808 were foreign tourists. December recorded the highest number of 13,237 tourists, which is 39% of the total footfall in the entire year,” mentioned Ahsan Chisti, Deputy Director of the publicity wing of the Tourism Department.

The trajectory of the tourism graph is exhibiting a rising pattern. From simply 186 vacationers arriving in the entire of July and 284 in August, 6,327 visited in November. In a surge, the Valley noticed round 2,100 vacationers arriving simply on December 23 and 24, forward of the New Year.

“We are witnessing a healthy footfall of 700 to 1000 tourists arriving in Kashmir per day for the past many days,” Mr. Chisti mentioned.

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It’s for the primary time since 2013 that Gulmarg, which has a mattress capability of 1200-plus, is offered out for two months.

The first solar rise of 2021 appears to have introduced a ray of hope for tourism. Besides hoteliers, sledge drawers, horse house owners, ski trainers and all-terrain car house owners, all have all seen good demand.

“The tourist trend is also showing that spenders and not just budget tourists are arriving in Gulmarg. We saw mostly three star and four star hotels getting booked first. People who felt trapped due to COVID pandemic, are finding Gulmarg a safe destination to visit,” Mukhtar Shah, president of the Gulmarg Hoteliers Club, mentioned.

Gulmarg Gondola, the nation’s highest cable automotive, closed for round six months for failing to do any enterprise, reopened in October final yr, and has began ferrying 600 to 800 vacationers each day as much as an altitude of three,950 metres.

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“We have set up special snow-clearance vehicles to rescue tourists who often get stuck due to snowfall, while travelling towards Gulmarg. Despite the recent heavy snowfall, we ensured that electricity supply remains uninterrupted so that no tourist faces any inconvenience,” Inam ul Haq, Chief Executive Officer, Gulmarg, mentioned.

Khelo India

Buoyed by the vacationer footfall, the J&K administration will organise winter video games, underneath the ‘Khelo India’ programme, from February 11-16 at Gulmarg.

“The winter games will require 600 rooms. We are discussing how to arrange accommodation given to the prior bookings,” Mr. Shah mentioned.

Kashmir, which stays a troubled spot, might even see its tourism sector again on observe however nonetheless faces challenges to match the figures of 2013, when greater than 11 lakh vacationers visited the Valley.

“Of 55,000 hotel beds available in the entire Kashmir Valley, 35,000 beds, mostly of budget hotels. continue to remain on the verge of closure. Scores of hotels have already shut,” mentioned Nasir Shah, chairman of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (J&K Chapter).

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“We are getting queries of tourists for spring and summer too but not on the scale it used to be,” he added.

Mr. Shah mentioned tourism has been a battle impartial sector in Kashmir and will stay so.

“Kashmir remains a safe place for tourists. The COVID numbers are coming down due to the government measures. We are hopeful of continuation of this healthy trend, which has potential to break the previous record,” Mr. Shah, buoyed by the tendencies, mentioned.