Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Apr 18: Prevailing uncertainty and surge in militancy related activities have cast a shadow over the tourism industry in Kashmir as there is drastic decline in the tourist footfalls with very few advance bookings and just 15-20 percent hotel occupancy.
Director Tourism, Mahmood Shah said peace is imperative for tourism and a surge in the violence will badly affect the tourism industry. “Last year the tourism suffered huge losses but despite that, it survived. It had always survived but growing tensions at the start of a peak season might have far-reaching consequences”, he said.
Asked if the postponement of by-elections will have bearings on the tourism, the Director said: “Obviously. They will affect the tourist inflow. There is high possibility of clashes during elections. It will naturally spread its tentacles to tourism as well.”
Prominent hotelier and chairman of Chaya Group of Hotels, Mushtaq Ahmad Chaya said he expects some tough times for the tourist industry in Kashmir as Valley seems to be heading for another ‘summer of discontent’. “Last year’s unrest forced many hoteliers out of business altogether and this year’s peak season starts with very few bookings. Our hotel occupancy is just 15-20 percent as compared to 70-80 percent a year ago,” he said.
Chaya said that the postponement of the by-elections has further deteriorated the situation as majority of the tourists visit Valley around that time. “We receive maximum tourist footfalls from Northern India around the third week of the month of May and since there will be elections this time tourists might not come owing to inevitable violence,” he added.
During the unrest of 2016, tourism has suffered a loss of nearly Rs 3000 crores and since then the Government has been promoting tourism at both national and international levels. However, the fresh bout of violence that is getting uglier day-by-day appears to have dimmed the prospects for this season.
Last year, the tourism season was severely dented by over five-month long unrest that was triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani. During the unrest, more than 75 civilians were killed and 15000 were injured.
Farhat Naik, another hotelier blamed national media for the downfall of tourism. “Primetime debates are full of filth. They exaggerate the situation. The positive side of Kashmir is not shown to the people. Why cannot they tell people that despite the unrest not a single tourist was hurt?”, he asked.
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