Tourism players happy as visitors return to Kashmir after 2-yrs

Afaq Bhat
Srinagar, Dec 25: Tourists returning to Kashmir have brought smiles on the faces of people associated with this vital sector.
According to the media reports hundreds of tourists have arrived in Gulmarg, Pahalgam and other places in the Valley to celebrate Christmas and New Year.
“We have been waiting for the tourists since August 5, 2019, when the Centre abrogated J&K’s special status. Tourists returning to Kashmir is a good omen. We are hoping that revival of tourism industry will help us recover the losses which we have suffered during the past 2-years,” said a hotelier.
He said that Gulmarg has received good number of tourists and we are hoping that number of tourists visiting other parts of the Valley too will increase in coming days. “Our hotels have been vacant for nearly 2-years now. Let’s hope COVID vaccine will end the pandemic and normalcy will return,” the hotelier added.
A restaurant owner said that during the past 2-years, many eateries have winded up the operations and hundreds of people have been rendered jobless. “If the COVID goes situation will improve. The restaurants that have downed their shutters may once again come back to life. Our industry has been hit very badly. We are hoping it gets revived,” he added.
A travel agent, who organizes package tours for the tourists, said, “During all these months we have been requesting the government to come for our rescue by providing us some relief. Unfortunately, nothing was done to help us out so that we could survive.”
He said, “During the past few weeks we have been receiving many enquiries and it seems that tourists want to visit the Valley. Signs of revival are there but it can take some more time. Another thing that COVID has taught is that we cannot depend on anyone for help. We have to help ourselves to stand on our own feet.”
An official of the Tourism Department said, “Our department is putting all the efforts to woo the tourists. A plan is being worked out to help the small time tourism players who have suffered during the past two years. Slowly things are falling in place. We are hopeful that coming days will be better.”
A businessman said that their fraternity is waiting for the rehabilitation package that was announced by the government. “If business has to be revived the government will have to move an extra mile to help our fraternity,” he added.