For nearly four years, a series of committee reshuffles, expanded memberships, altered chairmanships and repeated government orders have failed to achieve what should have been a straightforward administrative exercise: outsourcing the Tourism Department’s own assets that have been bleeding money for decades. The Government of J&K continues to trumpet its ambitions to make tourism the backbone of the UT’s economy. Yet, on the ground, its inability to operationalise a basic outsourcing mechanism reveals an uncomfortable disconnect between intention and implementation. The legacy of the Tourism Department-run huts, lodges, restaurants, guest houses and other assets is well known. For years, these properties were run directly by the department, and despite sincere efforts, most continued to accumulate losses. Government after government pumped in crores into maintenance, staffing, and upkeep, with the hope that one day these facilities would become viable. Instead, the public exchequer kept bleeding while tourists continued to face inconsistent or substandard services.
Recognising this unsustainable model, the Government finally decided in 2021 to outsource these assets to private players through structured models such as public-private partnerships. Yet today, after four years, five committees and multiple reconstitutions, nothing tangible has materialised. The mechanism is still “under finalisation”, the action plan remains “under preparation”, and the tourism assets remain locked, deteriorating or lying unused. What is even more baffling is that the Government simultaneously continued building new huts, restaurants, guest houses and recreational facilities-adding to a pool of infrastructure that it already knew it could not run profitably. On one hand, crores of taxpayer money are spent constructing these facilities; on the other, they then lie idle due to the absence of an approved outsourcing framework. It defies logic that the administration would continue to build what it has already decided it cannot operate.
The fallout is visible at ground level. In several tourist destinations, the Tourism Department’s assets were the only available accommodation or dining facilities. With these units now shut, locked or abandoned under the illusion of “awaiting outsourcing”, many destinations are experiencing a drop in tourist footfall. It is astonishing that at a time when J&K witnesses record-breaking tourist arrivals overall, certain destinations are losing visitors simply because the Government has failed to provide basic facilities.
Compounding the problem is the chronic underutilisation of tourism grants. Year after year, sizeable allocations remain unspent at every administrative tier. It creates the strange impression that the department simultaneously has an excess of funds it cannot utilise and an inability to generate revenue from the assets already created. The contradiction is glaring: how does one promote tourism while neither creating operational infrastructure nor maintaining existing assets?
The revolving-door approach to committee formation underscores a deeper flaw. Whenever a committee fails to deliver, it is reconstituted rather than being held accountable. Chairpersons change, members change, and special invitees multiply, yet progress remains frozen. What began as a focused task assigned to a single high-level committee has now ballooned into a bureaucratic maze, where procedural reshuffling substitutes for execution. Outsourcing tourism properties should have taken months-not years-and certainly not a full-scale administrative cycle involving five structural overhauls. What this saga demonstrates is not the complexity of the task but the absence of administrative intent. Tourism is a demanding industry; it thrives on efficiency, consistent maintenance, hospitality standards, and timely decision-making. Even the most scenic destinations cannot sustain tourist interest without accommodation, sanitation, food services and basic amenities. No amount of promotional campaigns can compensate for the lack of ground-level facilities.
Announcements without groundwork serve no purpose. Committees without intent deliver no results. J&K has immense tourism potential, but potential means little without performance. The Government must now treat this as a matter of urgent corrective action. A clear, unambiguous outsourcing policy is the starting point-not another committee. Once the policy is framed, time-bound targets, transparent bidding processes, fixed accountability lines, and regular progress audits must follow. Most importantly, those at the helm must be held responsible for delays. Tourism, like every government department, must generate revenue, not perpetual losses. Otherwise, the tourism sector will remain a story of lost opportunities.
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