SRINAGAR, December 31 – Despite devastating floods and two elections this year, some 1.1 million tourists thronged Kashmir as authorities continue to make efforts to attract visitors to the Valley during winter.
“We crossed the one-million tourist figure before the floods and as the year ends we received over 1.1 million visitors,” Kashmir Tourism director Talat Pervez told Press Trust of India (PTI).
Pervez said Kashmir received more than 20,000 tourists every month since the floods in September. “After the floods caused widespread devastation, we have been able to revive the tourism sector by 50 percent.
We used to receive around 40,000 tourists each month but the number went down to 20,000 after the deluge,” he said. Pervez said he was hopeful of “fully reviving” tourism in the next three months as the department was undertaking measures in the Valley with many initiatives on offer.
“We are holding local-level events, interactions with tour operators outside the state and festivals to dispel the notion that Kashmir was not safe to visit after the floods,” he said.
“We have invited tour operators from outside to see for themselves what the Valley has to offer. We are on a vigorous publicity campaign to promote tourism,” he added.
-BERNAMA
