Author: Noor-Ul-Qamrain
Publication: The Sunday Guardian
Date: October 16, 2011
URL: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/peace-brings-tourism-to-the-valley
More than 14 lakh tourists, including Amarnath
pilgrims, have visited the Kashmir valley this summer. The state tourist department
says that from the number of advance hotel bookings it is clear that another
two lakh tourists will visit the valley in autumn. Hotel and houseboat owners
attribute this tourist traffic to a summer of peace.
The arrival of autumn in the valley is marked
by chinar leaves turning red and meadows turning golden. It is considered
to be the best time to visit the valley. Visitors from Gujarat, West Bengal
and other parts of the country have already started pouring into the valley
to enjoy Kashmir's autumn. Many foreign tourists are also visiting the valley.
Houseboat owners, who have suffered immense
losses because of past turmoil, are upbeat about the large tourist inflow
this year. Ghulam Nabi Zaindari, a houseboat owner in Srinagar said that they
were waiting for winter tourism to pick up as autumn tourism was already at
its peak. The office bearer of the Houseboat Owners Association (HBOA), Javaid
Ahmad Gasi said that Srinagar had 1,200 odd houseboats. He said that the Association
has opened a booking counter at the Srinagar International Airport which has
helped houseboat bookings to go up.
"The airport is always a big source of
clients because tourists start looking for houseboats as soon as they step
out of the aircraft," said Muhammad Azim Tumaan, the newly-elected president
of HBOA.
Tumaan also said that the Jammu and Kashmir
government had accepted their demand for a dockyard of houseboats in Srinagar.
"There has been no dockyard for the last six years and houseboat owners
were facing difficulties when trying to get their boats repaired or built.
The new dockyard will help both houseboat owners and the tourism industry
in the state," he said.
J&K Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora
told The Sunday Guardian that besides providing the dockyard, the government
had subsidised timber and granted permission for the renewal of houseboat
owners' licences. He described the houseboat as a symbol of Kashmir tourism
and as a "floating marvel".
