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29th Auguast '2007 |
Synergising Ladakh-Kashmir Tourism |
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Mount Kailash |
On the initiative of Naeem Akhtar, Secretary Tourism, J & K Government, recently an interaction was held in the Tourist Reception Centre, Srinagar between the travel trade representatives of Ladakh and Kashmir. It was for the first time since 1974, the year when Ladakh was thrown open for tourism that such an interaction was held. Earlier the Ladakh travel trade held a press conference in the Royal Spring Golf Club for projecting the forth coming Ladakh Festival scheduled from September 1 to 15. This too was held in Srinagar on the initiative of the Secretary Tourism. Earlier this press conference used to be held in New Delhi. The first ever face to face meeting of the travel trade was held in a very cordial atmosphere. It was pointed out that Kashmir and Ladakh are two complementary rather than competitive tourism products of the state. The growth of tourism in both these destinations has been supportive of each other. It has an interesting history. Kashmir has been a well known tourism destination from earliest times. Its growth has always been subject to political conditions within Kashmir as well as in its neighbourhood. Though the valley has extensive potential for development of all kinds of tourism, yet it has remained largely unexploited due to uncertain political conditions especially during last 17 years. In eighties the growth was phenomenal and we would have reached a figure of a million arrivals in 1990 but for the sudden upheaval. The tourist arrivals plummeted to the lowest level of 4,000 in 1991. There had earlier also been disruptions in 1965, 1971, and 1984 due to Indo-Pak Conflict and Operation Blue Star. However, most of these disruptions were temporary in nature and the arrivals picked up as soon as situation was normal.
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Patola Palace |
On the contrary, the disruption of 1990 was the longest one and the present tourist arrivals especially of the up market sector have yet to fully pick up. Ladakh has had a regular influx of tourists all along. In the initial stages it was only the foreigners who formed the main chunk of the arrivals. The destination was directly exposed to foreign traffic. The domestic tourists felt it to be a forbidden place. Over last few years there has been a decline in the foreign arrivals but the domestic traffic has dramatically increased. Apart from the uncertain conditions, there have been a number of other factors which have stagnated or even lowered the arrivals especially of foreign tourists to these regions. Both in case of Kashmir as well as Ladakh we have been selling a beaten track for too long. It is the right time to open new areas and destinations. The State Tourism Department has already taken initiatives in this regard in case of Kashmir. The areas like Gurez, Tulail, Doodhpathri, Bangus, and so on are being now opened up for tourism. In addition new markets in South East Asia and Middle East are being tapped. This is expected to give a fillip to both domestic as well as foreign traffic. A similar initiative is required to be taken up for Ladakh by opening up Chanthang, Siachin, and other parts of Karakoram for foreign and domestic tourists. It is possible to start a number of new circuits which can increase the sustainability of tourists in the fragile ecology of Ladakh considerably. Additionally, a number of new routes such as to Lahasa and Kailash Mansarovar towards Tibet and Kargil-Skardu on the ancient Silk Route need to be opened up. There has been a long pending demand to open these ancient trade routes of Ladakh which will benefit Kashmir also. However, one of the most important measures urgently required for increasing the traffic to both these destinations is synergising the complementary nature of travel to these places. The bulk of traffic to Ladakh for a considerable period of time was through Kashmir. In fact, Ladakh was opened up for travel by foreign tourists by the Srinagar based travel agents. In the earlier stages major chunk of traffic was by road from Srinagar. The foreign groups would land in Kashmir, spend a day there, and then proceed by road to Ladakh for a weeklong trip.
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Habba Khatoon Peak Gurez |
A number of overnight camps had been set up en route and the journey would be completed in two to three days to allow for acclimatisation. The starting of air service made the travel more interesting as the tourists preferred one way travel by road only. They could fly out at Srinagar or at Leh. Repeating the road journey was sometimes boring or even annoying. The open circuit approach has helped tremendously even our competitive destinations in Northern Areas of Pakistan. Starting of deluxe coach services to Kashgar and Samarqand on the Karakoram Highway has considerably increased foreign traffic to the area. A large number of groups fly from USA and Europe straight to Samarqand and then drive down to Islamabad through the Karakoram highway to fly out from there. It is a 20 day historical tour along the ancient Silk route. One could start similar tours on this side if the routes are opened up. At the present moment the major handicap in restarting the complementary tour packages to Kashmir and Ladakh is the absence of a regular air link between Srinagar and Leh.
Just few years back we used to have three to four flights a week between Leh and Srinagar. With the decline in foreign traffic, the flights were curtailed. However, in 2001 we were able to convince the top management of Indian Airlines to restore the schedule to four flights per week. For last two years, the flights have now been reduced to one per week. This is totally inconvenient not only for tourists visiting Leh as well as Srinagar but also for local officials in Srinagar who have to visit Leh often during summer for various official assignments. It should not be difficult for the tourism officials as well as the representatives from travel trade to convince the top management of Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) to restore the flights to at least three per week in summer and two per week in winter. There is now considerable traffic apart from tourists between Leh and Srinagar. In winter all government officials posted in Leh have to travel by air as the road remains closed.
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Hunza |
In summer a large number of government officials are entitled to travel by air and can as such complement the tourist traffic to fill in the capacity of the aircraft. Additionally for the road journeys the operators of taxis from the two sides need to work out some mutually beneficial mechanism to encourage road travel. All these issues can be now better addressed with the initiation of interaction between the members of travel trade from the two regions. Let us hope the interaction is given a permanent shape by the government in the form of a co-ordination committee headed by the Secretary Tourism. That would be a very positive and constructive out come of the first interaction to once again start a complementary Kashmir-Ladakh Package for both the foreign as well as domestic tourists. |
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