Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, May 30: The Government’s decision to prohibit tourists from passing through Apple Valley enroute Pahalgam in Anantnag district has badly affected the area’s tourism-dependent businesses.
The Apple Valley, which stretches for 10 kilometres from Srigufwara to Budroo in Bijbehara area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, travels through a swath of apple orchards before arriving at Pahalgam.
Every year, the area produces roughly 40,500 metric tonnes of apple. The site was developed by the government to promote horticultural tourism and expand job opportunities in the area. However, the government’s decision to prohibit tourists from passing through the area due to security concerns has harmed tourism-dependent businesses and squandered all of the government’s efforts to establish the area as a profitable tourist stopover.
Sensing the area’s potential and the Government’s efforts, a number of business owners opened restaurants, handicraft stores, and small-time tea and juice vending points, all of which cost a significant amount of money. “The business was thriving until the government restricted tourists movement through Apple Valley,” a restaurant owner said, adding that business had picked up nearly three years after the COVID-19 outbreak struck.
According to official estimates, the Valley attracted over 9,00,000 tourists so far this year and tourist numbers are expected to reach 20, 00 000.
The area’s business owners, like the rest of the Valley, were pleased with the tourist inflow and hoped to recoup their losses from the previous three years, but no tourists have visited them in the last month.
“Tourists are my customers as I only serve vegetarian cuisine. With the influx of tourists in the first three months, I expected to clear all of my liabilities, but this order has destroyed all my dreams,” a restaurant owner said.
If the ban on tourist travel through Apple Valley is not lifted soon, business owners say they may have to close their businesses. “This decision comes as a shock to us because the government has allocated this entire area to tourism and has even invested in it,” a shopkeeper said.
What makes things much more difficult for these business owners is that they started their businesses by taking bank loans, and a downturn in the economy means they would not be able to pay their instalments. “I am not sure why the government made this choice, but a high volume of tourists prompted me to take out a bank loan and open a shop here, but there is no business today. If the scenario persists, I will be unable to repay,” a shopkeeper said.
Some shop owners believed that some Anantnag businessmen, especially those from KP-Road, had used their influence to impose the ban because all tourists liked to travel through the Apple Valley. “First, the government should perform a survey of the area to see whether the prohibition is justified. I do not think there has ever been a case where a tourist has been harmed,” a business owner remarked.
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