Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Nov 3: Tourist Trade Interest Guild (TTIG) today urged the Central and Union Territory Governments to reopen several key tourist destinations that have remained closed since the April 22 terror attack this year, warning that the prolonged restrictions are crippling the region’s tourism economy.
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Addressing a press conference here, Chairman TTIG, Zahoor Ahmad Karnai said that destinations such as Doodhpathri, Yusmarg, Naranag, and the upper glacier route in Sonamarg remain off-limits to visitors even as normalcy has returned. “Everyone connected to tourism-hotel owners, houseboat operators, taxi drivers, pony owners-is suffering. The economy is collapsing,” the chairman said.
He said he personally met Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Delhi and also sent multiple representations to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, but no response has been received so far. “We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to intervene. Kashmir is suffering, and people have been facing hardship for the past seven months,” he added.
The stakeholders said even during the peak of militancy in the 1990s, tourist spots were never closed. They cited the recent successful Kashmir Marathon, organized by the Department of Tourism and attended by over 1,000 participants, as proof that Kashmir remains a safe destination. “If events like the marathon can be held, why keep destinations like Yusmarg and Doodhpathri shut?” the chairman asked.
The group said many people had invested heavily in hotels and vehicles before April, expecting tourism growth. “People sold gold and took loans to buy vehicles and lease hotels. Now they can’t pay EMIs because there are no tourists. Cars bought for Rs 30-35 lakh are being sold for Rs 27-28 lakh,” he said.
Urging the Government to act swiftly, they said reopening the destinations would send a positive message to tourists and revive local livelihoods. “Tourism is the only solution to this crisis,” Akram said, adding that the community’s appeal is not political but purely economic.
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