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Only Kashmir: visitors throng scenic spots once again

The easing of terrorism and gradual return to normality in the Kashmir valley is proving beneficial to the tourist industry, which is showing signs of revival after eight long years.

Officials in the state tourism department in Srinagar seem confident that this year's success will send out positive signals which will reestablish Kashmir on the world tourist map.

In sharp contrast to 1993, which saw 8,000 foreign tourists and none from India to the valley, this year nearly 4,000 foreign and 900 domestic tourists have visited Kashmir to date.

"The trend is encouraging and we expect a fairly respectable number of both foreign and domestic visitors this year," a senior official in the tourism department said.

The fear of attacks and abductions by militants had kept tourists away from Kashmir, and only a few spent time in the troubled valley over the past few years.

With the improving situation, hotels catering to the middle class are once again clearing the cobwebs in their establishments. Many such hotels and resorts in Pahalgam and Gulmarg have already put up newly-painted boards. Small farmers and handicraft sellers are thronging the streets of Pahalgam at present. The state government's decision to stagger the Amarnath yatra over two months is also proving to be a blessing for tea-stall owners and caterers en route to the holy cave, situated at 13,500 feet above the mean sea level.

And among those with the traveller's itch are the Kashmiris themselves. Hundreds of Kashmiris are nowadays regularly visiting the Mughal Gardens, health resorts and other beautiful locales across the valley with a vengeance.

The excursion fever is spreading fast with local schools competing with each other for booking transport facilities to visit the picnic spots. Most of the buses and minibuses in Srinagar having been booked for weeks at a stretch by educational institutions who have planned ambitious camping and picnic trips to almost every known place in the valley.