Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Apr 27: The resurgence of Coronavirus across the country has brought Kashmir’s tourist industry back to square one, with the majority of hoteliers and houseboat owners witnessing mass cancellation of bookings for the upcoming summer season.
The Valley experienced a multi-fold increase in tourist footfalls in the first quarter of the year and business was looking good after two poor seasons had brought tourist players on their knees. “Since January the tourists have been coming in huge numbers and we were expecting a good summer this year,” president Travel Agent Society of Kashmir, Mir Anwar, told Excelsior. He, however, lamented the resurgence of Coronavirus has “washed away “the entire summer.
He added all the bookings have been cancelled and there are no signs of a revival of tourism ahead of the summer season. “The second wave is turning out to be more dangerous. Everyone is trying to save his life by staying indoors. So, all the pre-bookings till May end stands cancelled for us,” he said.
Chairperson Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Alliance, Manzoor Ahmad Paktoon said that around 80 per cent of the houseboats are empty in Kashmir and hotel occupancy has likewise went down by over 80 per cent in last three weeks. “The tourists who have pre-booked and have no option to refund are in Valley right now. Rest of the visitors have either cancelled or shortened their visit,” he said.
He asserted that worrying sign is that the tour operators and hotel owners had already resorted to layoffs. “Some have cut salaries while others fired employees. This is disturbing as several families will get affected and run into a difficult situation,” he added.
The slump in tourist arrivals has forced some owners to completely shut their hotels. Mir Sameer, a hotel owner, said that his hotel is shut since last week. “I have no hopes of resuming services keeping in view the situation we are in,” he said, adding that last two years have been challenging for him and if the situation continues, he might be forced to switch to some other business.
The tourist influx in Jammu and Kashmir has increased since January this year, after a hiatus of two years. The tourism sector was badly hit after the annulment of special status of Jammu and Kashmir in Aug 2019 and COVID-19, resulting in a huge loss to the people in the tourism sector. To reverse the impact Government had taken several initiatives to bring tourists back to the Valley.
This winter the hill-stations of the Valley witnessed an overwhelming tourist flow and all hotels in Gulmarg, Pahalgam, and Srinagar were sold out till April. The opening of Asia’s largest Tulip garden also ensured an early start of the tourist season.
The aggressive campaigning by the Tourism Department had also attracted several filmmakers to shoot their films here, with around 26 films being shot in the last four months alone. The hotel bookings also went up with the direct flight services from various cities like Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.
The Unlock Kashmir Tourism Campaign which was successful in bringing tourist to the Valley might suffer again as it did in August 2019 after the revocation of Article 370 and last year’s lockdown. The campaign was launched last year by travel operators from Maharashtra with support from the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department.
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