Srinagar, Oct 16 (KNS): Kahsmir’s tourism industry witnessed a sharp decline of 35 % in tourist bookings, compared with 2013, due to the devastating floods in September 2014, coupled by travel advisories.
"We have seen over 35% drop in our bookings this season compared with 2013. Kashmir, which always saw a healthy mix of foreign and domestic tourism, has seen a drastic decline in foreign tourism this year," Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com.
The decline in trourists arrivals is alo visible in different health resorts like Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg.
Last week, an official Gulmarg Development Authority told KNS that the ski-resort has seen a very less toruirists visitng its meadows.
The official, who did not want to be named, also said that negative publicity by the Indian media over Kashmir during the summer season was one of the main reasons for the decline in tourists.
He added that the devastation of the floods and no rehabilitation package by the government to revive the industry also disuaded the tourists to visit Kashmir.
The tour operators rued the slow pace of renovting tourism infrastructure that hit the industry and incessant rains during the summer season.
“Bookings for the domestic market was impacted due to natural calamity in April this year. Many of the hotels were closed as well," said Karan Anand - head, relationships at Cox & Kings, adding that it was also the peak period when Indians usually headed off to Kashmir.
"The hotel and general infrastructure had collapsed, and was rebuild in time for the peak season of March this year, but barely," said Sanjay Bhasin, CEO of travel portal Goibibo.
By the time the valley recovered this year, torrential rains inundated the place.
The report has been filed by Economic Times from Mumbai.
With the travel advisories in the past one month by countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, advising their citizens not to travel to Jammu & Kashmir -except the cities of Jammu, Srinagar and Ladakh – the foreign arrivals saw a dip.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
The state government has blamed the “growing militancy” for 50% decline in foreign bookings.
"Foreign tourist numbers have gone down due to growing militancy," said a spokesperson of Sonmarg Development Authority on the sidelines of a recent travel conference in Maharashtra.
Instead of Kashmir, tourists are choosing to go to neighbouring hilly states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand that share a similar topography.
Tourism authorities and hotels in Kashmir are doing their best to improve the perception of the valley though. Jammu & Kashmir tourism authority has been aggressively promoting the state at travel fairs, offering discounts.
The Khyber Himalayan Resort and Spa in Gulmarg recently hosted tour operators from the UAE to attract tourists.
"We see the Middle East as a great potential. Even Indians coming back home for holidays from the UAE are our target market," said Sujith Herbert, GM, The Khyber Himalayan Resort & Spa, adding that through these initiatives the hotel expects about 6% growth in occupancy this year over 2014.
Hotels have been rolling out attractive packages and tariffs to bring back the tourists. According to Dhall of Yatra, hotel tariffs are down by almost 40% compared with 2013.
"Hotels have started reacting and started offering discounted rates for the off season. Few of the hotels have renovated their rooms and facilities whereas others merely want to bank on the opportunities," said Vishal Suri, CEO - tour operating at Kuoni India.
With the government taking steps to boost tourism, travel experts expect the destination to recover by the upcoming peak season in April 2016.
"Courtesy the unstinted joint efforts of the state government and tourism board, Kashmir is seeing signs of quick stability and revival with promotion of locales like Yusmarg and Khilanmarg creating fresh appeal," said Rajeev D. Kale, president and COO - MICE, domestic and sports tourism, Thomas Cook. (KNS)