Srinagar: The government has identified over 18,000 tourism players across Kashmir to assist them following the losses suffered in wake of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Documents available with Precious Kashmir, read that the government has identified a total of 18,914 tourism players in Kashmir, who will be assisted for the period of six months.
According to the government figures, a stimulus package of Rs.5.6742 Crore has been released as relief in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic for its disbursement among the tourism stakeholders.
The amount of relief which has been disbursed among the stakeholders is to the extent of Rs.1000 per beneficiary per month, it added.
The tourism players identified for the assistance include 4880 Shikara Walas, 10571 pony walas, 1313 tourist guides and 2150 sledge and Dandi walas.
The identified tourism players will be provided Rs 1000 per month for the period of six months, the data said, adding that the decision to assist them has been taken by the government as part of relief in wake of the losses suffered by them following the outbreak of deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes at a time when the government claimed that the tourist sector is coming alive here as the footfall of tourists have increased in last three months.
Pertinently, the Central Government on the floor of the house admitted that the decline in the arrival of tourists in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.
In a question posed by CPI (M) leader Elamaram Kareem, Minister of State for Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel said that a total of 84,326 tourists visited Kashmir from August 2019 till January 25, 2021.
However, the government on the floor of the house stated that 87,94,837 visited Jammu and 1,00931 tourists visited Ladakh.
According to Jammu and Kashmir administration records, the Kashmir Valley attracted a record of million tourists annually between 2011-2014. In 2015, 9,27,820 tourists visited the Valley and numbers have been declining since.
