KOCHI: Jammu and Kashmir had long occupied a venerated place in the minds of the wanderlust from across the world. Towering Himalayas, pristine valleys and tranquil environs have attracted everyone from artists in search of inspiration to couples on romantic rendezvous to adventurers seeking adrenaline rush.
But the recent political troubles in the valley which had spilled out on the streets and virtually shut the state down for weeks on end had many thinking twice about their plans to visit Kashmir. Such a rethink is unnecessary, and the situation in the state is safe and normal, affirms Shahid Iqbal IAS, managing director of J&K Tourism and director of Information, who was on a visit to Kochi.
“There is no denying the state was in turmoil for many weeks last year. But, the situation has improved a lot in the recent weeks,” he says.
Iqbal says most of the trouble areas were far removed from the tourists spots and no tourist faced any trouble during the problems in the valley.
Moreover, majority of the Kashmiri people were not in support of the agitators as the media made it out to be. “The media had highlighted the negative aspects of the shutdown in the valley. A lot of the people were not sympathetic to the agitators.
As for now, it seems everyone feels the protests have not yielded anything and the support for such protests will be lesser in the future.” If one looks at the numbers, the footfall has not come down much in comparison to the same period the previous year, Iqbal says.
“The fall in the numbers coming in had only gone down by a few hundreds. There can be a lot of people who are skeptical about making a trip and we are here to build confidence among our fellow Indians.”
Akram Siah, the chairman of Tourist Trade Interest Guild (TTIG), a body of foreign inbound tour operators, who accompanied the Tourism MD, says that the state has improved its facilities with the introduction of many star hotels, luxury houseboats, river rafting, water sports and aquatic activities on Dal Lake in the recent months.