Tourists Start Raising Queries About Law And Order
Srinagar, Jan 7: The Bhartiya Janta Party’s adamancy to go ahead with hoisting of tri-colour in Srinagar is worrying stakeholders in the tourism industry in Kashmir who fear that the move might dampen their hopes from winter tourism. This is the second blow that the tourism industry fears in a span of one year, the first being the past year’s summer unrest in the Valley.
According to stakeholders, tourists intending to visit Kashmir have begun to call the tour and travel operators to inquire about the law and order scenario in the Valley. This follows the media reports about the BJP’s plans to hoist the flag in Srinagar on January 26, a move resented by no less than the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the separatist leader, Muhammad Yasin Malik.
“Following the media reports about the tussle over the flag hoisting, we have started getting queries from those who have booked their tours to Kashmir for winter months,” said Rouf Tramboo, the president of the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK). “The reports have given an impression to them that something wrong is again going to happen in Kashmir. It has frightened them and would keep them away from visiting the Valley.”
The TAAK also held a meeting to discuss the issue. “The members expressed concern over the media reports and the statements which show that thousands of political activists of a particular political party are going to hoist the flag in Srinagar’s Lal Chowk. This clearly shows that these elements want to provoke the people and vitiate the peaceful atmosphere by their uncalled for act,” Tramboo said. “The members expressed anger against these people who are hell bent to destroy Kashmir and its people.”
Tramboo said: “Kashmir has become a testing laboratory for the outside political parties and its people are used for experiments just to gain political mileage and vote banks in India. Such acts are a pure intimidation to the people living in Jammu and Kashmir.”
While the tourism fraternity has pinned hopes on winter tourism which is showing a positive trend as on date, the BJP move has perturbed the stakeholders. “The summer and autumn tourism in Kashmir got badly hit by the political unrest of July 2010. Tour operators and travel agents of Kashmir are at the moment marketing and selling Kashmir in domestic and international markets. But the BJP move will affect their business adversely,” Tramboo said, urging the state government to ‘rein in’ the elements ‘who are bent upon damaging the economy of the Valley.’
According to the J&K Tourism Alliance, the BJP move can drastically affect the tourism industry. “If the situation worsens again, tourists can certainly change their mind on visiting Kashmir. They can fix another destination which would be a serious blow to the tourism industry which is yet to recover from the last summer’s unrest,” said the JKTA chairman, GM Dug.
The Kashmir Hotels and Restaurant Owners Federation describes the BJP move as unnecessary. “It can divert our tourism rush to other states which is not a good sign,” said the KHAROF president, Mushtaq A Burza. “It is an exercise in futility which will not serve any purpose. So the BJP should desist from it.”
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