Prof K S Chandrasekar
In his Republic day speech, Lt.Governor Manoj Sinhaji quoted that there is an urgent need to promote alternative tourist destinations in J&K in order to ease the congestions in the most popular destinations. He even mentioned that the Sustainable Promotion of Emerging Alternative Destinations (SPREAD programme) to be used to provide alternative destinations. This is an excellent vision in ensuring that when a tourist arrives in J&K will stay for more days generating more revenue and benefiting the local population. One of the major objectives of SPREAD is to tap the unexplored natural tourism destinations across the Union Territory.
Tourism industry being one of the largest industries in the globe with an economic contribution of over 9.9 trillion US dollars to gross domestic product (GDP) was, making up a 9.1 percent share of the total global GDP.International arrivals of tourists are forecasted to reach almost 2 billion by 2030 which shows a steady increase in the tourism and allied industries across the world. The global demand for tourism products and services made the stakeholders intensify their activities by introducing innovative tourism products to attract potential travellers from target markets. Gone are the days where a tourist reaches a city, takes a hotel room and then does tourism activities. Now the tourists want something different and opt for staying in camps and other activities as can be seen from Airbnb records.
As per Statista, the highest number of inbound visitors is as usual to France which in 2023 recorded a whopping 100 million tourists and their Museum in Paris attracted nearly 9 million tourists. This is followed by Spain (85.17 million), United States(66.48 million), Italy (57.25 million), Turkey (55.16 million), Mexico (41.95 million) and United Kingdom (37.22 million).The share of revenues from domestic travel spending to the total tourism revenue was around 86 percent in India in 2023. The share of foreign visitor spending has increased to 14 percent in 2023. Look at the most popular country like Switzerland, it is not in the top list. Five out of the top ten destinations in the world are located in the European Union: France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. It may be noted that Europe alone attracts 50% of the total tourists from across the World as per UNWTO. Only 25% of the tourists are from within Europe. As per statistics it was estimated an increase of 3.5% tourists arrival growth in Europe alone. Some of the countries who depend more on tourism include countries like Croatia with contribution to GDP of about 25.8%, followed by Portugal, Greece and Spain. European Union contributed more than 20 million jobs in this sector alone.In 2023, domestic tourist arrivals in the European Union exceeded 600 million, the highest figure till date.This is a great achievement as far as Tourism is concerned. Within Europe, tourists are now travelling within European Union only which indicates that countries like Croatia and Portugal are able to survive. Similarly European Union residents take more than a billion tourist visits in a year. Of the total, Italy, Spain, France and England account for 55% of European Union tourists arrivals.
According to Condor ferries from UK in their survey they found the reasons for a tourist travelling to Europe. They found that 61% of arrivals into the EU were taken for leisure, recreation and holiday purposes.9.7% of France’s gross domestic product comes from tourism. 30% of this is contributed by foreign tourists and 70% comes from domestic tourism.1,292.5 billion U.S dollars was spent on travel to Europe.15% of international tourists in the EU travelled for business, whereas 24% travelled for other reasons such as visiting relatives and friends, health reasons, religious reasons and pilgrimages.
According to Forbes, the top 5 best destinations for 2019 are Budapest (Hungary), Braga (Portugal), Monte Isola (Italy), Metz (France) and Poznan (Poland). Considering the destinations, it can be seen that except Budapest, rest of the towns are not the most often talked about towns. Each of them has their own unique attractions. Braga, Metz and Monte Isolaboast of cultural and pilgrimage tourism. Most of the international tourists go by the World Heritage list. It is important for India particularly J&K to initiate process to include many of the sites into the World Heritage list which can be a guide for the tourists to find avenues and meaningful spending of their time. The developments that are happening in J&K with respect to road and rail infrastructure, vehicular movements, cultural heritage of various tribes in J&K can be a fore runner in bringing more international visitors which will augment the revenues of the local public also apart from allowing for internal revenue generation by the government.
In December 2022, India recorded over 9.6 million foreign tourist arrivals into the country as against 3.1 million during the previous year. In 2022 alone over 1731 million domestic tourist visits were made across India.J&K, which is a nature lover’s paradise, has been a major attraction for both domestic and foreign tourists for decades. Ancient shrines like Shri Vaishno Devi and Shri Jalandra Devi are present in the state that account for over half of the region’s domestic tourists.During 2024 alone, 9.5 million visitors worshipped at the Sree Vaishno Devi temple. The starting of New Delhi-SMVD Katra Vande Bharat has augmented visitors and with the impending SMVD Katra- Srinagar Vande Bharat will only add more tourists across the state. The Chenab Bridge requires to be promoted as a tourist destination which will make more tourists travel to see the mammoth infrastructure. The Railways needs to ensure they reduce the speed of the trains in that sector for the tourists to enjoy the marvel.
There is huge scope for eco-tourism, hill tourism, adventure tourism, responsible tourism and pilgrimage tourism for J&K. There is a dearth of guides who are certified by JKTDC and that will impact many of the destinations. Hence Cluster University of Jammu has taken steps to initiate programmes through the support of JKTDC to ensure there are sufficient guides at the local spots which can be a wage earner for them who need not have to migrate to towns and cities. In addition, there are plans to offer innovative programmes that will provide tourism manpower in the region to enable developing alternate tourist destinations.
There are many places in Kashmir like Dachigam National Park, Saffron fields of Lethpora and Pampore, Martand Sun Temple, Achabal Garden, Manasbal Lake, Wular Lake, Gurez Valley and Aru Valley that can be developed and offered as a must visit places in JK. There is a need for promotion of these places through social media and by international and national attention. Similarly places of unique interests like Daksum, Kokernag, Verinag, Yusmarg, Doodhpathri, Bangus Valley, Lolab Valley, Athwatoo and Naranag can attract more tourists. Jammu already has the name of City of Temples. Apart from that there are many locations that can be developed. Nathatop, Patnitop, Bagh-e-Bahu, Baba Dhansar, Shiv Khori etc. It is important to provide itineraries for the tourists and create circuit tourist locations and connect with the JKRTC. These buses can be considered as “Tourism Connectors” which can be a great revenue for the RTC. Small town buses having a 32 seater facility can be launched connecting tourism locations in unexplored areas in Jammu and also Kashmir. There is a need to create Cluster Tourism with 2 nights and 3 days package which can augment tourism arrivals. Currently the flight connectivity is also limited and of late the author found that Indigo has upgraded the flights to Jammu and Srinagar from A320 to A321 increasing occupancy. This augurs well for the tourists at large. It is high time, “Paradise on Earth” is able to live upto its reputation and lets put in all our efforts in ensuring glory and be part of the Vikasit Bharat 2047. Robert Frost, in his narrative poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, mentions that when he is faced with a choice between two roads, he elects to travel the one that appears to be less worn, and that made all the difference. Like that lets ensure that unexplored and unused destinations are developed to create Tourism clusters in J&K.
(The author is Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu)
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